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We Are Scientists - Rules Don’t Stop

Single Reviews

It’s a combination that sounds great on paper, but even better on record.

Brace yourselves, everyone. We Are Scientists (once again a trio, with former Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows along for the ride) are back; some would say, in more ways than one.

The group gave broadening their horizons a try with 2008’s ‘Brain Thrust Mastery’. The album itself was, and still is, very good, but it’s safe to say that a lot of the band’s fans were thrown a curveball. Nobody was expecting such a genre-straddling record (where, for instance, the stadium-sized ‘After Hours’ rubbed shoulders with the 80s nostalgia of ‘Lethal Enforcer’), and reaction was quite mixed.

Of course, you can’t please everyone. The band themselves are looking to get back to basics; their fourth album is titled ‘Barbara’ (no, us neither) and due in June, and the first fruits of the new record have appeared, in the form of dazzling comeback single ‘Rules Don’t Stop’.

Anthemic and bass-driven, it finds frontman Keith Murray in fine from lyrically (a.k.a. business as usual): "Don’t be alarmed, it’s not the end of the world if we’re breaking the rules / It’s fine / I disregard this kind of problem all the time". It can be best described as being rooted in the sound of 2006’s ‘With Love And Squalor’ (which sounds every bit as good four years on), while retaining the production values and sheen of ‘Brain Thrust Mastery’. It’s a combination that sounds great on paper, but even better on record. A short and snappy two minutes, it’s perfect to get the ball rolling for LP4. Bring it on. Rating: 9/10