Autolux
Future Perfect

Like an exocet careering through the darkness, Los Angeles trio Autolux have seemingly exploded from out of nowhere with a sound that owes more to Berkshire 1991 than NYC 2001. Future Perfect is littered with some pretty obvious reference points, but like all good history lessons, when the tutor gets it spot on, the pupils are in for a ball.

Sure enough, it would be easy to list the more common denominators such as My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless' or Sonic Youth's 'Bull In The Heather', but let's give credit where it's due. Autolux have clearly been to the back of beyond and back again in search of their forefathers, and in the ethereal madness of 'Angry Candy' and 'Capital Kind Of Strain' one can almost picture the rehearsal room last summer whilst this record was being constructed flaking out to the sounds of the Drop Nineteens' 'Delaware' opus in the background.

What sets Autolux apart from a number of their contemporaries in the fuzz'n'feedback revival is that rather than keep to the age-old chagrin of fast-slow-quiet-loud IN THAT ORDER (TM) they simply swoon until the bowels of their heart are empty than bang... hit that G-spot straight between the eyes like a supersized sledgehammer on day release from Quantum Leap.

Lyrically, Autolux might not win a Booker literary prize but consider this: would you rather some earnest bore lope on over an acoustic guitar and piano or have the harmonious choral cry of "Shake shake, shake the clouds out / shake shake, shake the stars down" over a tumultuous hail of distortion and bluesy feedback? Exactly. Case closed.

As an album Future Perfect demands to be heard in it's entirety, so much so that it would be almost sacrilege to rip any singles off here, although 'Blanket' and 'Here Comes Everybody' do have a certain radio-friendly sheen about them. If Autolux are to be considered as part of this so-called "nu-gazing" scene, then Future Perfect clearly has it's eyes focused on the stars rather than its feet.