The Pineapple Thief: Build A World

Stealthily stealing away from prog.

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All The Wars, the ninth album from these respected neo-proggers, saw them waving farewell to 2012 by all but ditching their prog elements. A band whose debut was named Abducting The Unicorn have placed such wanton fantasy on the back-burner.

They now seem established in a moderately dramatic alt-rock style, echoing countless others but retaining the USP of mainman Bruce Soord’s bittersweet, borderline-stalkerish lyrics.

This EP lifts the melodically insistent title track from that latest album and offers four new tracks. The nagging, escalating guitars of You Don’t Look So Innocent have much in common with Muse or early Radiohead, while What Are You Saying? also seems to have had Black Holes And Revelations on its car stereo.

You Drew Blood is a gentler seven minutes of angst, then a bonus Dirty Hifi remix of Build A World engages with throbbing electronica. Water-treading rather than world-beating.

Chris Roberts
Chris Roberts

Chris Roberts has written about music, films, and art for innumerable outlets. His new book The Velvet Underground is out April 4. He has also published books on Lou Reed, Elton John, the Gothic arts, Talk Talk, Kate Moss, Scarlett Johansson, Abba, Tom Jones and others. Among his interviewees over the years have been David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Bryan Ferry, Al Green, Tom Waits & Lou Reed. Born in North Wales, he lives in London.