Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We are only human after all, we see the world not in black and white but in an armada of colours, almost psychedelic, almost in a state of flux somewhere between utter panic and soulful serenity; to think otherwise is to deny ourselves one of the basic fundamentals of existence, that when look into the eyes of strangers, of those we see every day, and even the constant weave of those we fancy, take a shine too or just daydream about, we know deep down that the Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life.

The sense of damage being done, of the wreckage of the human soul and heart is something that we cannot avoid and in all likelihood our lives would certainly be more dull, more impaired by the perfect and the dull if we were to try; stunning people, interesting scenarios, these are the things we set our sights on everyday and for a smile from the seemingly perfect, we will happily trade in the part of our lives that says happiness assured if we don’t fall for the one bathed in Cosmopolitan beauty.

It is to beauty that the listener craves when they seek out new words of inspiration, the combination of notes that might allow them to dream of being adored by the artist or the band and being seen, as in their reflection, just as worthy of the attention that creativity imbibes and gulps down.

For fans of one of Liverpool’s modern day heroes, The Wombats, beauty is to be found and coveted in their latest release Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life. The sense of attaining the sought after raised eyebrow that comes with any album that garners your attention, that you look slyly sideways out of the corner of your eye as you see the enigmatic glide past and then gaze with passion as each track progresses, all this sense of beauty is worthwhile as the album powers through from start to finish.

In songs such as Lemon To A Knife Fight, Lethal Combination, Out Of My Head, I Only Wear Black and the crushing crescendo of finality in I Don’t Know Why I Like You But I Do, The Wombats make more than good, they strike home the ruin you crave, yet it is one that deep down inside you understand will ultimately lift you up to a new perspective.

Beautiful is only an allusion of hormones and fire in the loins, ruin only comes if you let it, to The Wombats, the music is more than a series of firing passion, it is the genuine article that comes from within.

Ian D. Hall