Sacred Paws
Run Around The Sun
Rock Action Records
Two years after their debut Strike a Match won the 2017 Scottish Album of the Year Award, and Sacred Paws have a lot still to prove.
While the Glasgow-based combo are still relative unknowns in the great UK scheme of things, how do you improve on that two-year-old template and maybe engage a wider audience.
It seems for album two, poppier hooks are very much in the mix, and having talked of mainstream artists such as Carly Rae Jepsen in a recent interview, it is clear they have looked to reshape their sound.
What sets Sacred Paws apart is that they sound like nobody else on the live circuit, with a sound that can only really be compared to early Vampire Weekend, encapsulating the sunshining ebullience of soca and the cutting rhythms of west African afrobeat into what could broadly be described as indie rock.
While Strike a Match benefitted from the shock of the new, Run Around The Sun is a far more consistently engaging affair comprising of ten relentlessly upbeat and joyful songs underpinned by Rachel Aggs' glistening guitar riffs and Eilidh Rodgers' quivering beats.
The infectious single The Conversation kicks things off, setting the tone for what is to come with snappy Aggs licks and a euphoric harmonic vocal coo.
The scampering Almost It is more of the same with knobs on, or rather horns, by which time you care little for what they are saying, as your feet have taken over.
There is no slow down as we head through breast-beating floorfillers including the snappy Life's Too Short and the cute Brush Your Hair.
The band can be criticised for being samey and when the pace is slightly slowed halfway through, they end up producing the most captivating tune of their short career so far, the shimmering How Far.
“I think we'd get bored if it was too slow,” Rodgers says. “We'd never want to play something live that people couldn't dance to.
It would feel really strange to us. It's kind of the whole point.” Running at around 30 minutes, Run Around The Sun makes sure it does not outstay its welcome. After all you can only have so much of a good thing.
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