'Box Of Secrets' by Blood Red Shoes

The debut album from Blood Red Shoes came out today and I'm enjoying listening to it played loudly. I've seen them play live a couple of times (supporting Maximo Park and Siouxsie), got a few of their singles and enjoyed their music. They're a guitar and drums duo, Laura-Mary on guitar and Steven on drums, with both taking lead vocals on different tracks or swapping vocals during songs.

Eleven tracks, crash-bang-wallop, thumping drums and harsh, abrasive guitar, lots of background shouting, relentless from start to finish and making a lot of noise for two instruments. Four of the tracks on the album have already been released as singles over the past year (although they're not all available for digital download, some being physical only) and they're the most immediate on a first listen but the other songs start getting their own identity on second listen.

The songs are all recognisiably by Blood Red Shoes, the same sound, the same energy, which makes for a relentless album but it works. The record drips energy and life. You can almost see them in front of you banging away on the drums and plectrum blurring, fast and energetic. I wonder if there's a kind of SLADE thing going here - no, they don't sound like SLADE - in that they're trying to capture the sound and feel of a gig, something SLADE tried in all their early records. Blood Red Shoes are certainly good live, testified by their current mostly sold out tour (London is sold out so I won't see them on their own tour but they're supporting the Maximo's again in May so I'll see 'em then).

Of the new songs (or rather previously unheard songs) I'd single out 'Take The Weight' which is slightly slower paced without the buzz-guitar in the verses and more complicated vocals and then the Blood Red Shoes sound kicks in for the choruses. I'm also quite taken with 'Forgive Nothing' with a chorus of 'Oh so? Never mind' and (whispers) vocal harmonies...

The packaging is nice, with a booklet with more of Laura-Mary's artwork (she designs their covers) and the lyrics inside. The CD came in a slip-cover but I think that's only if you buy it from HMV (although I might be wrong there). It's nice that HMV have got behind the album (there were even copies at the small shop in Victoria station this evening) and iTunes are selling it for the knock-down price of £5.49 for six months. I'm enjoying the record and will play it lots over the coming weeks - I suspect I'll hear more with each listen. Well done!

'You Bring Me Down' is one of my favourites and sums up Blood Red Shoes for me - it has all their energy, qualities and sonic foibles. You can see and hear it here: