Album Review: Micachu & The Shapes - Never

It's the party at the end of the universe, and Micachu & The Shapes have delivered the soundtrack with their second album, Never. The UK three-piece are primarily the vehicle for Mica Levi's talents. The prodigious 25-year-old has earned herself a degree in classical composition while also finding time to collaborate with the London Sinfonietta Orchestra, do various DJ gigs and record two albums. The best way of describing the Shapes' sound probably involves calling them a prog-rock garage band. There's distorted industrial beats, cacophonous de-tuned guitars, video-game style keyboards and some dark lyrics thrown in, delivered in Levi's distinctive talk-singing style.

Opener Easy sounds like a psycho carnival ride at an Eastern European metal convention while Waste is urgent and aggressive, especially when the guitars kick in. The band relax somewhat and find their groove on Slick, a track somewhat reminiscent of early Eagles Of Death Metal, while OK and Low Dogg are like catchy, demented nursery rhymes. Holiday is a cool piece of surf pop, while the band slow things down for the guitar-driven Nothing before finishing with a bang, smashing out the full-tilt Nowhere. These descriptions almost make these songs sound a bit routine, but within all these tracks there's often a barrage of sounds being thrown at the listener at any one time. Levi also often ignores the verse-chorus structure, making sure this isn't the easiest of albums to listen to. But give yourself time for these songs to settle in your skull and the melodies, almost hidden amidst the chaos, gradually become clear and are well worth the effort, ensuring this album gives you something fresh with each listen.