Their 2005 debut, With Love and Squalor, was chock-full of danceable guitar hits, but We Are Scientists deliver a second album that falls way short of that impressive debut.

They seem to have lost their appetite for indie dance-floor destruction. First single 'After Hours' hinted at a change in direction with its Strokes-style riffage and lovelorn chorus, but it's on opening track 'Ghouls' that they really ram the message home.  With it's swirling guitars and sinister, brooding synths and repeated refrain of "We all recognise that I'm the problem here", this isn't the same band that had us hopping around our bedrooms just a couple of years ago.

A sense of calculation makes it feel lifeless in comparison to the exuberance of Love And Squalor. Their love of post-punk is lost under sickly-smooth 80s production, leaving 'Impatience' and 'Tonight' sounding flat and lifeless. 'Lethal Enforcer' is a syrupy, synth-drenched number, whilst final track 'That's What Counts' sees WAS going all Phil Collins, especially on the buttery-soft chorus. The guitar-disco hints on 'Chick Lit' point to more fruitful territory, but there's little here that lifts the spirits and warms the heart.

This is an album filled with self-doubt and relationship worries. It's not something that suits their quirky approach and makes it very difficult to love. (Miles Taylor)