iLiKETRAiNS: A Rook House For Bobby

If David Bowie had discovered the intricacies of spacious, epic post-rock instead of hooking up with Tricky and fucking Tin Machine it may have sounded like this.

Leeds’ iLiKETRAiNS are the sort of band whose moniker would probably put even the most tolerant soul off at a hundred yards. I mean, I like PEANUt ButtER sandwiches like, deal with it. Except this isn’t a joke. In fact these guys sound like they’re more serious than anyone else currently making music on this planet, Thom Yorke and Carlos Dengler included.

‘A Rook House For Bobby’ tells the true story of former chess world champion Bobby Fischer, whose erratic behaviour saw him join an apocalyptic cult, have all the fillings removed from his teeth in case they influenced his thinking before being arrested and imprisoned last year and finally turning up as a reclusive exile in Iceland.

Flip over to the b-side and you’ll hear the most haunting protest song ever written about the restructuring of the national rail network. Perhaps the most harrowing aspect of ‘The Beeching Report’ though, is that the addition of iForward Russia!, Napoleon III and This Et Al on backing vocals make it sound like the Welsh Male Voice Choir from Hell, although on this occasion, hell definitely ain’t a bad place to be.

Passionate, all encompassing and addictive, this single has the lot, and with it iLiKETRAiNS ascendancy to the halls of greatness seems well and truly in motion.