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And you know why this is? It's because that's how they come across in interviews. Never mind that almost every single one of their tunes to date has been a fusion of rock structure with dance/hip hop technology, and let's gloss over the fact that as an arranger, Serge Pizzorno has an ear for a spiralling string melody to rival Cathy Dennis (or whoever it was that did the strings on Britney's 'Toxic').

They ACT like they've read too many issues of Classic Rock magazine (Serge) or The Pop-up Guide To Being 'Rock & Roll' (Tom), and therefore people assume they're musical idiots, and that doesn't seem fair.

Take this song. Pounding acoustic guitars (not something you hear every day), joyclaps, spooky ghost noises, pretty harmonies, an orchestra playing that skyscraping arabesque, the feeling of perpetual motion...

...hardly Rooster, is it?

Having said that, there's a bit where Tom goes "so COME ON!", which he might as well be reading out of that popup book, while wearing a T-shirt which reads "Tonight Matthew, I'm going to be ROCK AND ROLL!".

So they're not exactly doing themselves any favours.

Released: January 29th

(Fraser McAlpine)

PS: If you've not read it yet, read the ChartBlog Kasabian interview...about toys!