Album: The Duke Spirit

Neptune, You Are Here

At the exact moment when the 45-second overture "I Do Believe", which sounds like The Carpenters or The New Seekers, gives way to the Stooges/Velvets dynamism of "Send a Little Love Token", it's evident that the Duke Spirit mean business. The second album from the quintet sees them step out of the shadows of their ancestors (PJ Harvey, Siouxsie), and stand up and be counted. 'Neptune' is hard and sharp like gravel. Luke Ford's guitars are dirtily hazy; Liela Moss' vocals are huskily sexy; the running theme concerns the pros and cons of building a wall around your emotions, and there's an attractive layer of desert dust over it all.

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