Liverpool trio The Wombats are a staggeringly impressive success story. From their founding in the early noughties after meeting while studying at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts to the Spotify-conquering, hard-touring outfit that has shifted more than one million albums worldwide, their journey has been an incredible if curiously unrecognised one, thanks in part to their curious status as somehow the ‘uncool’ indie kids on the block.

Quite how they got this reputation I don’t know, but it’s not one that in any way taints their hugely impressive back catalogue (their tracks 'Let's Dance To Joy Division’ and ‘Greek Tragedy’ have both amassed over one hundred million streams on Spotify – a remarkable and very 21st-century accomplishment). And it’s certainly not a reputation that you can sense in their new and fifth studio album Fix Yourself, Not The World which brims with confidence. 

Opening gambit ‘Flip Me Upside Down’ jumps into action with a quirky bassline, before morphing into a dreamy chorus and back again, while ‘If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You’ builds to a thrilling crescendo, and ‘Method To The Madness’ is a little slice of slow burn that shows its hand with its building drums, but still makes you smile when it changes gear. ‘Everything I Love Is Going To Die’ is a shimmering slice of indie disco perfection, while ‘Wildfire’ is ramped up vocals layered over a funk-inspired sound. 

Despite their remarkable progress and continuing experimentation with funk, electro and house elements, Fix Yourself, Not The World is still the sound of a band totally comfortable and confident with what they’re doing and to hell with what everyone else thinks. It’s refreshing, and this is an album that just confirms once again that The Wombats really are the kings of indie pop. 

Fix Yourself, Not The World tracklist:

1. Flip Me Upside Down
2. This Car Drives All By Itself
3. If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You
4. Ready For The High
5. Method To The Madness
6. People Don’t Change People, Time Does
7. Everything I Love Is Going To Die
8. Work Is Easy, Life Is Hard
9. Wildfire
10. Don’t Poke The Bear
11. Worry
12. Fix Yourself, Then The World (Reach Beyond Your Fingers)

Watch the official video for Everything I Love Is Going To Die below.

Author: Joe Sharratt

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