We Are Scientists - "Barbara"

Perfecting the pop-rock genre, We Are Scientists return with their third studio album ‘Barbara’. A return to their roots can be seen here as a similar sound to their first album ‘With Love and Squalor’ has been created where the choppy guitar and the prominent bass lines take centre stage. Simple riffs, memorable lyrics and relatable themes make We Are Scientists an incredibly approachable band. Within the first listen of ‘Barbara’ I could sing the choruses of most songs whether I wanted to or not. Stand out tracks ‘Rules Don’t Stop’ and ‘Nice Guys’ (which have also been released as singles) use the memorable lyrics that follow the song titles and are notably catchy.

The videos created for these singles reflect the band’s sense of humour; self-mockery and the surreal. The ‘Nice Guys’ video, filmed by bassist Chris Cain features the lead singer and guitarist Keith Murray skating around town on a child’s scooter, attempting to look like Tony Hawk in skinny jeans. Subtitles for the lyrics were added in post production and the purposefully incorrect lines offer great amusement, for example what should have been “walk off the residual pain” comes up as “wok of mesidual pain.” You can imagine Keith and Chris sniggering to themselves in childish delight.

Separate from the silliness their songs often have a poignant longing about them, ‘Pittsburgh’ being a prime example with its swaying rhythm and echoing guitar that sounds like it was recorded underwater. The repetition of “all we want is to be together” is a romantically universal theme that makes this track stand out from the others. However, if you’re tired of the sappy love songs, ‘I Don’t Bite’ is a relentlessly catchy rock song that shows off the abilities of new drummer Andy Burrows, formerly of Razorlight. Despite this new addition to the band, their sound has changed little and so ‘Barbara’ is comforting familiar to devoted fans and will be appealing to the new.

‘Barbara’ is available on iTunes which includes videos for ‘Rules Don’t Stop’, ‘Nice Guys’ and a track by track explanation of the album from Keith and Chris which particularly exemplifies their odd but humorous banter.

Laura Jones