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Perhaps hoping to offer a mea culpa for making it cool for lame also-rans like the Bravery to bring their bloodless nü-wave to international audiences, everyone’s favourite Glaswegian dandies move beyond stylish angular dance-rock on their sophomore release. YCHISMB retains the pulsing rhythmic backbone of Franz Ferdinand’s self-titled debut, but they get silly with Beatles-Cheap Trick mashups (first single Do You Want To), jangly Byrdsian ballads (Walk Away) and even a shockingly successful low-key ballad (Eleanor Put Your Boots On), which, with its Coney Island references, off-key vocals and echoing piano, swipes more than a few tricks from the Lou Reed canon. Their smartest move was giving the boot to old producer Tore Johansson (Cardigans) in favour of a more rough-and-tumble collaborative vibe.
