We also get a new sound, and to give Glasvegas their dues, they’ve matched it perfectly to the concept. Instead we get the set-up piece Pain Pain…, the two parts of Homosexuality, and the outro Change, which simply don’t have the payoff, either by themselves or in the greater album structure, to be worth the listener’s time. Yes, there’s some great songs here – Whatever Hurts You Through the Night is right up there with It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry (loved by everyone with ears) – but concept comes at the expense of their best. It’s a shame then for an album with so much potential, and a band who’ve always shown such promise, that Glasvegas fall short of pulling it off. It’s an album of two opposing yet related themes a band summoning of all the complexity of love. Their stylised title, full of slashes and backslashes, represents this – as frontman and singer James Allan explains, it’s “the ascent, the crest of a wave, and then the crash”. It’s a simple concept, and beautiful too: that love, even when it’s full of pain and heartbreak, is fundamentally a positive emotion that should bring joy, happiness, and yes, euphoria. When the song closes dead on the 3 minute mark, one thing is clear: this is a concept album. Now though, romanticism replaces retribution, and looping French phrases try to woo us as much as the piano used to cut us. The band dabbled in spoken word last outing with Stabbed, but that was about, well, stabbing – a crisp Glaswegian social commentary over a haunting piano piece from Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.

Pain Pain Never Again sets us up with spoken word over some brewing, ambient electronics. Of course, the proof is in the pudding, and from the first track it’s clear this isn’t just a new image, but a new sound too. It’s warmer, lighter, and almost melts in your hand. An orange-hued picture of Marilyn Monroe replaces the stark black’n’white sketch of fierce winds and stormy clouds. Glasvegas gun for a conceptual masterpiece but end up shooting themselves in the foot.Īs soon as you pick up a copy of Glasvegas’ new effort, you know things have changed.

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