The Wombats
' 2011 sophomore effort,
This Modern Glitch
finds the gleefully cynical Brit trio delivering a batch of catchy, immediately memorable dance-rock tracks the likes of which haven't been heard since the glory days of
Blur
and '90s Cool Britannia. Mixing the literate, biting social critique of
Arctic Monkeys
'
Alex Turner
with
frontman
Damon Albarn
's jaded eye for ennui in the modern world,
the Wombats
have crafted their own would-be classic 21st century masterpiece. Frontman
Matthew Murphy
, an avowed skewer of pop culture trends since 2007's
A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation
, retains his humorously cynical yet wide-eyed lyrical gaze, which brings to mind both
Peter Sellers
' and
Ray Davies
' personas of comedic intellectuals relenting to the debauched party atmosphere around them, which they don't quite approve of but can no longer ignore. The sentiment is perhaps best expressed on the delirious, revelatory anthem
"Techno Fan,"
in which
Murphy
, despite the music not being to his taste, screams to the girl who invited him out to the club, "Shut up and move with me, move with me or get out of my face." Similarly, tracks like the driving post-punk disco cut
"Tokyo (Vampires and Werewolves)"
and deliciously bleak
"Jump into the Fog"
are grand statements of Pyrrhic, drunken escape from the pressures of modern life, with
crooning on
"Tokyo,"
"Finally! I know what it takes/It takes money and aeroplanes." He pushes the notion further on the brilliantly melodic, ennui-ridden baroque pop ballad
"Anti-D,"
's "karaoke songs" from
"The Universal"
have been replaced by
' own songs, which are better than "citalopram" and "to be prescribed as freely as any decongestants." The song, like the rest
, makes the case for
as both rock stars and fools in their own pop star sitcom. ~ Matt Collar