The Big Pink - Future This

•    Taking their cue from hip hop and electronic music producers they admire, album two started out with The Big Pink simply making beats and playing with samples. So successful were these experiments, each track’s genesis can be traced back to them, even allowing live drums on the record to be ditched altogether and for guitars to come into play much later in the song writing stage than in previous recording sessions.

•    Staying in London this time, the band called upon Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence & The Machine, Plan B) to help record it, someone who they felt understood exactly what they wanted to achieve. The mixing stage was handed over to Alan Moulder who, having performed the same duty for the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and many more, they knew they were in very good hands with.

•    Running at ten tracks in 45 minutes, ‘Future This’ commands your attention throughout, opening with its first single ‘Stay Gold’, a track written about doing what makes you happy, so immediate you could be forgiven for thinking they’ve not been away. From there, the album is paced perfectly, with future live anthems - ‘Rubbernecking’, ‘1313’, ‘Jump Music’ - counterbalanced with a set of songs that show a more subtle side - ‘Hit The Ground (Superman)’, ‘Give It Up’ and title track ‘Future This’. Each song has its own message, mostly positive, and help highlight Robbie’s progress as both a lyricist and singer. By the time you reach album closer - the mournful ‘77’ - it’s already demanding repeat visits.

•    With graffiti a recurrent theme, the band wanted the finishing touches to ‘Future This’ to lie with the celebrated artist KR (the man behind Krink), who by using his distinct paint style to ‘krink’ the album’s sleeve and give them a fresh update on the legacy of 4AD record design.

•    Initial pressing of the CD in deluxe ‘krinked’ digipak, which will then revert to a regular jewelcase.

•    ‘Future This’ sounds like an album The Big Pink have enjoyed making; showing they still have a hunger, are still delivering on that early promise and are always looking forward.

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