Blood Red Shoes/ Fire Like This

Blood Red Shoes
Fire Like This
(V2/Co-Op)

Anyone who suspects that, after five years, Blood Red Shoes might be craving a weak lemon drink or, perhaps, an ambient double gatefold vinyl will weep into their tealeaves when they hear Fire Like This.
The band have aimed their sniper rifle at Nirvana's In Utero for the spirit of this second album, and the speed and spit of the songs is reflectively hardcore and bitchin’.
The other touchstone appears to be David Lynch's cult series Twin Peaks, and in particular its sense of a burning, sinister evil on the periphery of our smiling society. The Twin Peaks movie features a strobe-lit nightclub where dark sexual trades are made, and with the seven minute closer 'Colours Fade', BRS have successfully allowed me to revisit that club except in the comfort of my bedroom. Thank you BRS.
For the most part, the band feels not just chased by demons, but also determined to out-run them, no matter the cost. 'Don't Ask' races down a nocturnal highway, getting its kicks from the lashing wind. 'When We Wake' is a beg for honesty, building from candle lit intimacy to light bulb-blowing urgency. 'Count Me In' and the single 'Light It Up' both deliver rock and roll pyrotechnics, but with one eye on the clock: time is short, so let's get this across eyeball to eyeball and cut the crap.
Fire Like This will ignite the indie discos, sure sure, but the record really lives on the stage - in a weird old way it's the best live album you'll hear this year. Even if BRS are eventually consumed by their demons, they've fought an awesome fight. When you’ve got guts like these… screw the glory.