Curve release activity historically peaks in the two years following a UK general election (which could, conspiracy theorists, just be a coincidence), and with this, the third album in 18 months this band's taking its democratic responsibilities seriously.

It looks like a proper Curve album too, with a flatearth-designed sleeve although the pic of molten hearing aids might not be a recommendation - and has the traditional energetic opener that makes you want to drive quicker and could, in a perfect world, have been Curve's first dance single.

Elsewhere there's Cold Comfort, originally a cool mp3 on curve.co.uk and now reborn with go-faster stripes, and a handful of yer standard vibro-bass numbers with Toni's engagingly vague lyrics ("Nice and Easy... we all aspire to know what that means"). Two slow numbers at the end are real "growers", especially the gorgeous Sinners, after which Dean nicks the microphone while Toni's out making a cup of tea and finishes with a track sounding like the Mish in their happy phase (hmm). As a web-only release (via musicnonstop.co.uk) there's no pretence of this being a classic Curve album, and ironically it doesn't hang together quite as coherently as their last DIY effort, Open Day At The Hate Fest, despite being all new material, but this is no mere filler. If you have any taste for Curve you can be assured that, a decade on from giving early 90's indie a shove in the right direction, they're no closer to shoe-gazing now than they ever were. If still a Curvirgin, standard advice to start with Cuckoo, Come Clean or Gift continues to apply.

***½ (out of 5)

review by Keith Burnett (nicked from Meltdown, dated Summer 2002)

http://www.curve.co.uk for ordering details.