Album Review: Something For Kate - Leave Your Soul To Science

They've released solo records and opened bars. They've gotten married and had children. But Paul Dempsey, Stephanie Ashworth and Clint Hyndman never forgot about Something For Kate. Leave Your Soul To Science is their first studio release in six years and it seems, from the outside looking in, that a lot's changed. However, as soon as you've heard opener Star-Crossed Citizens, with its abrasive guitar stabs, floating vocals and rock solid rhythms, you realise that you're not being introduced to a stranger; you're simply reacquainting yourself with an old friend.

With keys prevalent across a third of the record, their established alternative rock sound has morphed towards alt-country, reflecting a recording process which saw the band decamp to Texas to work with producer John Congleton (Modest Mouse, Okkervil River). But they take this foundation and stretch it in a variety of directions. The Kids Will Get The Money balances a sludgy bass undercurrent with a range of beautiful layers above; The Fireball At The End Of Everything gets even swampier, recalling the lucid sounds of Radiohead's There, There; Eureka, meanwhile, is another striking late addition, with the music holding somewhat of a period feel that runs well with the title. The band have emptied a huge number of ideas onto this record, yet they've come away with a work that's cohesive and neat.

And if you can get your hands on a copy, pick up the two-disc special edition – the acoustic takes of Active Child's Hanging On and World Party's Ship Of Fools go a long way towards usurping the originals. A brilliant return from a band nothing short of the same.