California rockers We Are Scientists have a special relationship with the UK. They arrived on the scene at the time that indie was going through a reinvention in the UK, and fans on our fair shores took their 2006 debut album With Love And Squalor to their hearts, sending it Gold and earning a dedicated if slightly cult following over here. In the years since, that fan base has stuck with We Are Scientists, and their live shows and albums have always done well.

Now the trio are back with the seventh studio album, Huffy, and the band are currently in the midst of a UK tour promoting the record. Writing on their official Facebook page, the band said: “Huffy” is out today in all its multi-splendored glory. This one took us longer than usual to create, and a magnificent effort from our label friends and management to bring to life. A giant sloshing cheers to all of them, and all of you who listen today.”

You’ve Lost Your Shit and Contact High open the record and are pleasant enough, sonically firmly on brand with the We Are Scientists back catalogue. But it’s Handshake Agreement where Huffy bursts into life, bristling as it does with its jolting riff and snappy rhythm, while I Cut My Own Hair is a deliciously manic affair, a big bouncy bassline all mixed up with disorientating psychedelic effects and wonderfully cutting chorus. 

Just Education is a little gem in the middle of Huffy’s ten tracks, a slowed down but ambitiously soaring number, while new single Sentimental Education carries some of that melody forwards and throws it together with some interesting vocal changes, and another big chorus. The album’s lead single Fault Lines is a higher octane trip, a cocktail of stuttering guitars and little bass flourishes.

Ultimately We Are Scientists haven’t trod any new ground here, but rather produced a record of interesting and appealing tracks that their many fans will greet with the warm reception they deserve. 

Huffy tracklist:

1. You’ve Lost Your Shit
2. Contact High
3. Handshake Agreement
4. I Cut My Own Hair
5. Just Education
6. Sentimental Education
7. Fault Lines
8. Pandemonium
9. Bought Myself A Grave
10. Behaviour Unbecoming

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.