Domino
2008
Beat Pyramid
About This Album
Barely in their 20s, These New Puritans are more than willing to verbally admit their various influences, which range from the obvious (the Fall) to the obscure (16th century astrologer John Dee), and many of which are apparent on Beat Pyramid, their full-length debut, an angular, drum-driven album that dips into the experimental and the concrete without ever losing sight of itself. There's a seriousness to their music, most of which comes from bandleader Jack Barnett's straightforwardness and delivery. The lyrics don't deal with typical themes of love and sadness; instead, Barnett brings up ideas of numbers and colors and philosophy -- and these recur throughout the whole album, taking a very frank approach. "What's your favorite number, what does it mean?" he asks in the very Wire-esque "Numerology (aka Numbers)," then going through one to ten (skipping five and eight), explaining each ("Number One is the individual, Number Two, duality") and leaving very little room for misinterpretation. This directness, however, is quite charming, and does a fine job of preventing the songs from becoming overly pretentious or esoteric. The drum and bass in "Elvis" pound portentously as Barnett sings "And if there is a God, then please take me up," before launching back into his Eddie Argos/Mark E.
Track List (try tracks 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
13.
14.
15.
15.
16.