Hidden Domino ****

For a band whose debut was so forward-thinking, kicking off album number two with a woodwind/brass composition to rival Coronation Street's theme tune seems just a tad regressive.

For Southend’s These New Puritans, however, the word “convention” does not exist. The young quartet revel in off-the-wall obscurity, but where others flail wildly in a sea of pretension, their compositions are without conceit or affectation. Like their debut, these songs are hugely driven by both repetitive and off-kilter beats, but

Hidden

’s magic is in the details – a sharpened blade sound effect here, an ominous oboe line there – which creates an often chilling atmosphere. The epic

We Want War

, a clatter of rambunctious thumps and spidery tingles that seems to fuse together the philosophies of The Fall, Aphex Twin and HP Lovecraft, is a particularly disconcerting reverie. www.thesenewpuritans.com

Download tracks:

We Want War, Attack Music