I always kinda like The Horrors. A few years ago, a friend of mine showed me their debut single Sheena Is A Parasite, he asked me what I thought about it and I recall saying ‘Do you even call that a song?’ Sheena is pure intensity, it’s in fact nothing else than intensity and I think it's exactly what the band wanted it to be. I finally liked it, but there were at the time so many cool UK bands doing this kind of half-experimental/half-pop music that the Horrors kinda hibernated in my subconscious for a while. I wasn’t even aware until recently of their debut called Strange House released in March 2007.
A month ago, I heard their new single Sea Within a Sea that is such a serene piece of music that I wondered for a minute if it wasn’t wrongly attributed to them. But the song lasted and lasted until the 8:00 mark, and since Sheena was less than two minutes - which is unconventionally short -, it makes sense that their new single would be eight minutes – which is unconventionally long. The difference is that while Sheena was just unconventional, Sea is also genius. I want to apologize to these guys for thinking they were just every other English band. Listening to their new album called Primary Colours, I seriously feel like listening to Joy Division, Stone Roses and Buzzcocks altogether. But I don't feel like listening to a tribute: it's fresh, it's intelligent and it’s got everything I'm looking for in music.
The first track Mirror’s Image starts with more than a minute of quiet synthesizers. After a quick pass by a drummer who sounds like he was tired of waiting, the whole band kicks in and doesn't stop being good until the last track. The second half especially stands out as one of the best second halves I’ve heard in many years. Starting with the Joy Divisionesque Scarlett Field, going on with the long and calm I Only Think Of You, the weird and noisy I Can’t Control Myself and the happy nostalgic title track, it ends with the epic first single, Sea Within A Sea, that itself ends in the most beautiful way. I hope Pitchfork’s gonna rate it good, cause otherwise, I think I’ll e-mail to complain.
Download: The Horrors - Mirror's Image Buy it on 
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