Nai Harvest’s second full-length effort sees them embrace Britpop, squeaky clean productions and huge, huge hooks.
The Sheffield duo’s previous songwriting efforts had shown undoubted promise but remained disjointed, scrappy emo rock. The emergence of ‘Buttercups’ last year changed all this, immediately throwing Nai Harvest forward as a band who had appeared to discover themselves. The aforementioned ‘Buttercups’ finds itself included on Hairball but in the form of a slicker, more oiled version – an aspect that is prevalent throughout the album.
What is also prevalent is the duo’s penchant for creating a racket and a half. Album-opener ‘Spin’ is loud, exceedingly catchy and speeds along at 100mph. The same goes for ‘All The Time’, an earworm of a song that will creep up on you whilst you’re doing the dishes. But what makes Nai Harvest stand out is their ability to hold it back when necessary, such as on the ethereal, soothing guitars of ‘Drinking Bleach’ or the simply outstanding ‘Ocean Of Madness’, which is pencilled in as this writer’s song of 2015.
‘Melanie’ sees the band in slightly more familiar territory – breakneck, hook-laden rock n roll. ‘Dive In’ continues this theme with another infuriatingly catchy chorus, while album-closer ‘Hairball’ is decidedly more expansive, developing almost into a slow-tempo jam before finishing with the superbly exciting rock n roll that Nai Harvest appear to be perfecting.
Hairball is an outstanding effort from a great band. You’d be a fool not to listen.
9/10
Alex Neely
…Alex is listening to Ceremony – ‘Your Life In France’…
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