January 27, 2012

Errors - 'Have Some Faith In Magic'

Some of their finest pop bangers to date

Album Info

Release Date: January 30, 2012
Label: Rock Action
Fact: Errors' label-mates Remember Remember will be supporting them on their February UK tour

7 / 10 Errors’ 2010 album ‘Come Down With Me’ proved even the boldest of bands aren’t immune from coming unstuck the second time round. They gamely pushed on with their electro-exploration, but failed to recapture the wondrous essence of their debut, falling prey to the perennial post-rock tendency to believe that making music doesn’t allow for having fun.

Thank the heavens, then, that ‘Have Some Faith In Magic’ sees them unbuttoning those stiff top-collars and delivering some of their finest pop bangers to date. On ‘Tusk’, they escape the grip of label bosses Mogwai (whose shadow loomed over ‘CDWM’’s more po-faced moments) and opt for an unabashed solar-smooching wig-out, a torch-lit sky illuminated by crystal-sharp synths beamed from a galaxy far, far away. The warm, pulsar-glow of ‘Magna Encarta’ owes more to the likes of Fuck Buttons or Memory Tapes than it does to the gloomier end of post-rock, even if it is haunted by a ghostly vocal – something of a rarity for the oft-mute Glaswegians.

Moments of wide-eyed wonder are many. ‘Pleasure Palaces’ is opulent and glittery, while ‘Cloud Chamber’ builds upon a sumptuous melody that’s candyfloss-light as it tickles the neurons. But it’s ‘Earthscore’ that boasts the most what-the-fuck gumption, splintering from eerie, otherworldly chanting into skew-whiff squiggles and star-spangled synths.

Metronomy and Battles found last year that a dollop of human warmth can give electronic experimentation a helluva kick, and Errors are following in their wake. Like any good conjuror, they’ve learnt that the best magic isn’t dark sorcery, but wowing your audience so much that they’re beaming with disbelief. Now we can spot the grins on Errors’ faces, the spells in their armory are all the more bewitching.

Ben Hewitt

Rate this album

Average rating

To read all our reviews first - days before they appear online - check out NME magazine, on sale every Wednesday

For the latest music videos and backstage interviews, check out our sister site, NME Video.