Navvy // Idyll Intangible

Navvy wear their influences proudly on their sleeve and the Sheffield four piece’s debut ‘Idyll Intangible’ owes a massive debt to post-punk band Wire. The resulting collection of short, choppy tunes sounds distinctly like Elastica and The Rakes. Lyrically however, the album draws on the mundane aspects of everyday life, rather than the themes of relationships and love favoured by many bands. These lyrical roots are obviously referenced in song titles such as ‘Plastic Bag’, ‘Sticker’ and ‘Robot’ which may not initially fill you with excitement. Thankfully they manage to expand on their initial concepts to create something more satisfying than I expected, but only just. ‘Idyll Intangible’ is a fairly decent album, but unfortunately there aren’t many tracks that stand out from the procession of angular pop. 'Disco’ has a strong, driving riff while ‘Robot’ has a welcome anarchistic tone which sees singers Claire and Keith declaring they’re, ”the master of my future” compared with those who, "don’t complain, don’t know what’s what”. It’s a shame there aren’t more of these moments as at best this album is solid, but unfortunately not especially interesting.