Four years have passed since The Bads last released an album. However, this in no way means they've been lazing away doing nothing, with Brett Adams and Dianne Swann appearing along a dizzying array of artists, either as studio support or live accompaniment.
The impact of these years of working in a range of different styles with a disparate collection of artists certainly shows on their fourth full-length release Losing Heroes, by some distance their most meandering and varied album to date. You almost cannot keep from playing a spot the influence game listening to the album. A sprinkling of 70s glam here, a good dollop of 80s pop there, lots of country twang, some indie rock, some goth drama... Traces of Bowie, Portishead, M Ward, Siouxsie and the Banshees, too many to mention.
As expected, there's no lack of brilliant musicianship - Adams and Swann are wonderfully skilled players, And there are some really strong songs - the driving 'Crash and Burn', the dark and dramatic 'Him & Her', the lilting 'Spinning Wheels Turning Tides', the jangly 'Calling Home', to name a few.
The stylistic range, combined with the way Adams and Swann switch vocal duties from song to song, gives the album a somewhat fragmented overall feel, playing more like a collection of (admittedly great) singles than a cohesive whole. But in this day of Spotify playlists and track jumping that should not distract much from what is an excellent and very welcome new set of Bads songs
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