Cheeky indie cherub Craig Angus, lead singer and guitarist for Savage Mansion has really stepped up a gear with this, the third album Golden Mountain, Here I Come.
Now a quintet, Angus and the rest of the band have the bit between their teeth. Angus, keyboard player Beth Chalmers, guitarist Andrew McPherson, bassist Jamie Dubber and drummer Lewis Orr have a new ferocity here (not that they were slouches before) occasionally augmented with post-punk saxophone by guest musician Stephen Black, aka Sweet Baboo.
Songs like Football Weather, The Custom and The Crucible have real urgency and purpose, a statement of intent as the world tentatively reopens. It’s all you could ask for when Sheeran et al dominate curated playlists- an antidote to homogenised pop and faceless, polished Lammo- endorsed nonsense like Wet Leg alike.
The band tour with Pictish Trail in March and April. See the Lost Map website for details.
Album released on Lost Map on February 25th.
Hit The North 