Originally a side project comprising Eamon Hamilton ex-British Sea Power, the White brothers (Tom and Alex, guitar and drums respectively) from Electric Soft Parade, and Tenderfoot bassist Marc Beatty, The Brakes have now made it to their sophomore album and, with none of their main bands really having gone stellar, could probably be counted as a full-time band in their own right. Certainly, judging from The Beatific Visions, you wouldn’t guess they were anything less.

While the album does clock in at a mere 28 minutes, it certainly covers quite a lot of ground in that time. Lyrically, topics veer from the political (‘Margherita’), to the personal (‘If I Should Die Tonight’), and the downright bizarre (‘Porcupine or Pineapple?’). Musically, it’s all over the place as well: one minute a maudlin, countrified ballad (‘No Return’), and the next a two-minute burst of frenetic punky energy (‘Spring Chicken’), with most places in between thrown in for good measure.

Though not a hit on first listen, the album’s a rapid grower with choruses that soon lodge in your head, and have you wanting to sing or shout along. There are some equally catchy guitar parts, even when they tend to punk-rock-by-numbers they’re suitably fun and energetic. It’s a shame in my book that such songs tend to be either pretty meaningless or crude political ranting, however, because I think they’re satisfying but disposable. The band’s best moments for my money are their more sensitive ones, with songs like ‘Isabel’ and ‘No Return’ haunting both musically and lyrically. It’s just a shame that even these songs tend to be sub-three minutes (only two of the eleven break that magic number).

The amount crammed in to less than half an hour is truly impressive, and even more amazingly it doesn’t seem disjointed. It’s an album that could easily be twice as long without outstaying its welcome, so I hope the guys continue to get plenty of time away from their day jobs.
(4/5)