Blaenavon - That's Your Lot

Four years since signing to Transgressive as teenagers, Blaenavon’s debut album is as much a coming-of-age tale as it is a fully-fledged indie triumph. From start to finish That’s Your Lot is an artefact of excitement, frequently jumping from woeful lulls to rapturous climax in the blink of an eye. At its front end, the hits come thick and fast – Let’s Pray dresses up nihilism in a glossy coat of reverb whilst My Bark is Your Bite bristles with frustrated energy. On its latter half, musicality seizes control. Frontman Ben Gregory’s vocal is the centrepiece in Blaenavon’s arsenal, quivering and tempered in places (Let Me See What Happens Next), protrusive and lustful elsewhere (Alice Come Home) and often an enthralling mixture (Lonely Side); he tells as many stories with his delivery as he does his introspective lyrics. Where Gregory articulates with words, bassist Frank Wright and drummer Harris McMillan respond instrumentally. A revised edition of 2013’s Prague conveys a newfound maturity whilst retaining its original charm, its sublime guitar intro building into a joyful crescendo not dissimilar from label-mates Foals. The eight-minute epic that is Swans is temperamental and lustful, the crowning jewel in Blaenavon’s shimmering first offering.