This Gift - Sons and Daughters

The Gift is here and released in the UK on Monday 28th January on both CD (and also a limited bonus version with a live CD included) and on 12" vinyl (again limited) with a gold-foil sleeve that makes it almost impossible to photograph. I know this - I've just tried several possible ways of doing it and it is much like trying to take a picture of a mirror without seeing oneself in it!

Success is a two-edged blade and they knew it. What could they do next given that in 2005 their second album was both fantastic and so criminally underrated? No band had pushed boundaries as far and not only got away with it but made it their own territory.
That said 'This Gift' is amazing. 'The Repulsion Box' (2005) was always going to be an extremely tough album to follow but they've certainly done it. As it only arrived this morning I'm still undecided on the best tracks. There are plenty to chose from...

This library image really doesn't do it justice and I'll try again in daylight tomorrow morning but, as Domino vinyl always seems to be, the quality is untouchable. Some reviews have hinted that, with Bernard Butler on production duties, this is the album that sees Sons and Daughters go pop.
Well, unless your idea of pop is pitch-perfect in its twistedness - and this album is - then you might just be disappointed. More pop than The Repulsion Box for sure but that is hardly difficult and it is no less recognisable as Sons and Daughters. If this is the future of pop then so be it.

Incidentally someone sent me an e-mail today that contained an interesting suggestion: Once Amy Winehouse is packed off to rehab one of the therapies should be listening to Adele Bethel singing (presumably The Repulsion Box) as the songs are probably as messed-up as they come but Bethel (by all reports) isn't!