Polish Your Old Halo [LP]

The evolution of Swampmeat Family Band continues apace. When the Birmingham outfit released their incendiary third album, Muck, three years ago, it marked the culmination of the kind of vision that frontman Dan Finnemore had always had for them; having returned from the U.S. after a spell as a key member of Philadelphia rockers Low Cut Connie, he was burning with ideas and inspiration, channeling a renewed creative energy into a new-look version of the garage band he'd formed, as simply Swampmeat, with drummer T-Bird Jones in 2006.Muck certainly felt like a family affair, one that saw the group expand to a five-piece and broaden their musical palette, boldening their bolshier side with brass, lending their forays into country some authenticity with the addition of pedal steel and, by welcoming vocalist Joni Coyne into the fold, providing Finnemore with a new foil. The new accoutrements came together to form the basis of Swampmeat 2.0, a slicker, sharper band anchored by Finnemore's handsome arrangements and melodic sensibilities.Polish Your Old Halo continues Finnemore's hot vein of songwriting form with Muck and capitalises upon that album's creative momentum, without being afraid to try new things and remove old ones; the brass and strings that made it on to Muck have been left to one side, propelling Finnemore's writing to the fore. The freewheeling blues rock that came to define their last album is still alive and well. But there's also progression, something particularly evident in the album's bookends; 'Do It All' brings the curtain up with juddering, synth-led punk energy, while closer 'Plant Your Feet Correctly' is a swooning acoustic cut, initially envisioned as having a string section but now presented in vulnerable, bare-bones fashion.