Homescience - Jungling

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 4 / 3 / 2004

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Review

Edinburgh's Homescience must be quick learners. Four years ago the band released a fine EP on Pickled Egg, which however also featured much introverted mumbling that in turn was overruled by a powerful wall of screeching indie guitars. Our editor John Clarkson also once witnessed the band put on a dismal performance in their native city, but on record that failure seems like aeons ago. The 2002 album 'Songs For Sick Days' built on the edges of that sound and introduced composure. And on 'Jungling' those qualities have been polished out and cut to snappy proportions exactly in the style a perfect pop song needs. Well-dosed moments of harmony and jangling, certainly not jungling, carry Homescience's second album all the way through to silent pop-stardom. 'Take It Easy' shows how much a melody plus a fragile orchestration can do to a song and how they can turn it into a four-minute wonder. Homescience are three gentlemen and one woman who are keen on happy-sad tunes and you get a full dozen of these on 'Jungling'. Another favoured track is 'At The Back Of My Mind' in which a gorgeous yet simple keyboard riff leads onto Andy Ward's skiing on snares.Lifting the foggy veil from Homescience's past, the band amends the repertoire of so many 60's and 70's icons and churn out 12 songs which are entirely their own and could become this year's thingamajigs of pop. File under your favourite pop combo comparison. But Homescience are even better than that.

Track Listing:-

1 Mother Superior Teardrop Factory
2 Take It Easy
3 Blueprints
4 Forklift Truck
5 Letterbox Blues
6 They Show Up In The Rain
7 Chemical Hearts
8 At The Back Of My Mind
9 June
10 So Far Away
11 Molten Lead
12 Ask For The Week