Glasvegas

There is something in the water of the British Isles that anyone even half-familiar with rock music is aware of—many have suffered through haggis and gloomy weather for just a taste of it. The Beatles used it to make their afternoon tea and to found Brit Pop; U2 used it to water the roots of “The Joshua Tree” and make Irish rock relevant. Many others have come and gone since then and enjoyed their 15 minutes on the anti-oasis in the North Sea.

Until recently, Scotland has had little to speak of save for bands like The Vaselines and Travis, great whisky, and the Loch Ness Monster. Now, though, Glasvegas, who hail from Glasgow, are set to change all of that. A band truly capable of putting Scotch rock on the map, all the bagpipes in the world performing “Amazing Grace” couldn’t outplay them.

The four-piece group employs the kind of sweeping, heavily produced guitar lines that have made other Commonwealth bands like Muse and Bloc Party famous while capitalizing on moody lyrics and killer accents.

The album cover of their eponymous first release, which is actually a collection of songs that they’ve been playing for several years now, seems to say it all—a scene derived from Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” that’s indicative of songs that are least effective on a sunny day.

First track “Flowers and Football Tops” starts only with distracting reverb, which leads to echoing drum beats and lead singer James Allan crooning like he’s in the 1950s.

Though the accents are hard to understand at first, the song is actually sung from the point of view of a mother whose son has died in a way reminiscent of Wayne Cochran’s “Last Kiss.” The drums and lyrics open into a bridge and chorus that quickly introduces the listener to Glasvegas’ crushing yet hypnotic guitar riffs—like Coldplay with bloody knees. Staying true to the homage-to-music-history nature of the song, it closes with Allan wistfully reeling off “You Are My Sunshine.”

The next track, “Geraldine,” which also happens to be this week’s free track on iTunes, wastes much less time before getting the guitar and bass moving along. Allan sings in an alarmingly effective manner—better described as frantic sprechgesang—and the “ooohs” he gets from supporting vocalist, cousin Rab Allan, add to the dreamlike quality of this and many of the other songs.

“It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry” continues with the early rock sound, led by a tambourine. James Allan almost sounds like Mike Skinner as he tries to fit too-long lines into the meter of the song. Instead of being sloppy, however, these rushed lines come off as endearing.

“Go Square Go” is a hectic, rock club-by piece that seems ultimately conducive to circle dancing, jigging, and moshing. It also brings out the folksy Scottish side of the band while gratifying an alternate desire to shout “Here we fucking go” and still lay on those heartbreaking guitars.

If Glasvegas hasn’t got you by the halfway mark, then “Daddy’s Gone” will be the one that hooks you.

Starting with, “How you’re my hero / How you’re never here though,” this Emo-Motown ballad features the laments of a son thinking of his runaway dad. The content of the lyrics, the supporting synth, the old school, melancholic sound, and a booming chorus with James Allan shrieking, “He’s gone, he’s gone,” make this a thoroughly disarming song.

Near the end of the album, the moodiness shifts to eeriness as Glasvegas reaches even further back in music history and samples Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” for the track “Stabbed.” As Allan recites a lyric poem of sorts, the repeated words “I’m gonna get stabbed” over the well-known piano motif create a chilling effect, and yet this enigmatic piece still fits into Glasvegas’s apparent mantra of beauty with an edge.

In one track, James Allan asks, “What’s the story morning glory? I feel so low and worthless,” and though I’m not sure how Glasvegas’ debut compares with Oasis’s best, I hope that despite oncoming success, the band will hold onto some of their angst and continue making great music. Cousins can’t have sibling rivalries, right?

—Reviewer Andrew F. Nunnelly can be reached at nunnelly@fas.harvard.edu.