January blues? Pah. Not if Boxed In has anything to do with it! It is the brains of Oli Bayston, who used to be in the underrated Indie band Keith, and who has also written for The 2 Bears. Here he gets the full opportunity to spread his wings, and he does so in some wonderful songs that cast a little shadow here, a little sunshine there. Propelled by energetic piano and athletic bass, the fast songs ‘False Alarm’ and ‘Subtle Knife’ are heady, four-minute rushes, while the slower songs show a hint of vulnerability. The single ‘Mystery’ sits in between, and gets the album off to a winsome start – while the loose limbed funk of ‘All Your Love Is Gone’ is a treat. Even better is ‘No Joke’, a song that would surely have resulted from a collaboration between Hot Chip and Erlend Øye’s Whitest Boy Alive. This is an album to move the feet with its beats and the heart with its lyrics, and the January release date is perfectly timed to spread some much-needed good feeling. Make sure you jump on board!
