Art Brut’s 2005 debut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll, featured deadpan, highly literal tales of forming bands and moving to LA; for their follow-up, the faux-preening British slackers retain their firm grasp on irony and put their romantic insecurities on full display.
There are songs with concepts concerning the perils of pausing a make-out session to turn up the radio, love in the face of crushing poverty, preferring sleep to sex and the tendency of happy couples to grow complacent and fat; each sparse, swift and defiantly flippant. Frontman Eddie Argos’ affected singsong remains as emotionally baffled as ever, while the garage-pop guitars providing Complicated’s scant framework retain their skittering sloppiness. And throughout it all, a pronounced love of others’ music provides the lyrical glue.
This go-’round, however, the odd trumpet solo and rousing pub-chant chorus belie a little more artistry going on than meets the ear. The detached protagonists (i.e. Argos) never learn from their mistakes, but at least they acknowledge being forced to grow up eventually. After all, Art Brut’s sound may be highly unique and even refreshing, but even more-or-less joke bands want their humor to be taken seriously.