The Beat Surrender

“Want girl, Chase Girl, Catch Girl, Kiss Girl / Let her break your heart / It won’t kill you” begins ‘Chinese Burns’, a brooding introduction with scaling, siren-esque guitars that saunter along into a rousing finale.

Repetitive and deep lyrics conjure up a sullen figure standing alone but No Mind is actually a group of four friends based in London with a twisted sense of humour! The first two tracks here are a taster of the second album, ‘Palm Of Fingers’ which they put out in April as the follow up to 2005’s ‘My Truth Bends’.

Influences such as Neil Young, Jeff Buckley and Jimi Hendrix are joined in shaping their sound by a more diverse mix, such as Beck, Bjork, Herbie Hancock and even Bruce Lee! One influence seems to come across stronger than any other though with Brett’s vocals bearing an uncanny pain to Thom Yorke’s. Especially on second song ‘Small Town’, which is suitably a dark tale of murder that has real Radiohead type emotion coursing through its veins.

Fair enough, it’s no Karma Police but some good, solid drumming from Olly compliment the OTT guitar solos well! The bonus third track, ‘Coincidence’ is a newer tune which they recorded earlier this year. Ian’s incessant bass line is the backbone with Krish’s keys adding some atmosphere to proceedings. The vocals seem to be raising questions for our Governments to chew on, all the while coming on with chord changes that recall Turin Brakes.

I’ll definitely be listening to the albums on the strength of this, an impressive trio of thought provoking music from a band on the brink of something. Even if that’s just a nervous breakdown!