When your first record of Fall-influenced, guitar-led electro art-rock was reasonably well-received, you'd be forgiven for staying on that path. It's surprising then, that England's These New Puritans haven't so much changed direction as ripped up the whole road.
This isn't half-arsed, sloppy experimentation either. Hidden is as beautifully and precisely executed as it is ambitious. With its sombre arrangement of oboes and bassoons, opening classical overture Time Xone is soon steamrollered by the sinister, Eastern-influenced We Want War. Massive drums battle with horns, keys, choral harmonies, vocal samples and frontman (and songwriter) Jack Barnett's lyrics: “Can't you feel them breathing down your neck?”. Over seven minutes in length, it's an epic start. Elsewhere, the xylophone of Hologram contrasts with the gunshot drums of the Timbaland-esque Attack Music, as Barnett spits the chorus with venom.
A dystopian coming together of themes of nature and conflict, words are delivered both in aggressive chants (Under Fire) and delicately (White Chords) and are always intelligent, “Frames of colour litter the bracken, regal and strange.”
Swapping the safety of guitars for brass, woodwind, children's choirs and the sound of chains and knives was brave, and the Southend quartet should be applauded for their ambition. Aside from maybe sounding a bit like the result of some kind of futuristic tribal conflict between Massive Attack, Tricky, MIA and Telepathe, Hidden is almost completely undefinable.
An intriguing fusion of old and new, the challenging Hidden may not be the feel-good album of the summer, but it is outstanding. If you thought These New Puritans were little more than indie also-rans, think again.
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