Molly and I saw a lot of Art Brut when we followed The Hold Steady around on their NME sponsored tour a couple three years ago. There's a pretty strong argument to be made for the two being two sides of the same coin. Both bands are archetypes of the rock of their respective homelands helmed by great singers who don't exactly sing so much as vocalize. Art Brut got a lot of notice with their last great record recorded by Black Francis. Singer Eddie Argos was in fine form there, but their second time with Francis behind the boards has yielded their best record yet.Brilliant! Tragic! is very much the former, although the second element figures prominently in the songs here. Evidently Art Brut got more time in the studio this time around and wrote together much more regularly than they normally do. It's reaped dividends and they should do a lot more of it. This won't be out til mid-May, but it is well worth snapping up once it does. They've dropped the first track to the interwebs in the form of Lost Weekend, so check around a get a taste of what you're in for once Brilliant! Tragic! drops. There's another non-album track called Unprofessional Wrestling available if you pony up some e-mail or Facebook info. I do that and snatch up the record here from your friends at Downtown Records.
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