You've toured with Kula Shaker, The Enemy, The Fratellis and Ocean Colour Scene. Your name is followed by a number. You rip off a guitar twiddle from 'Rock n' Roll Star' before a punchy, anthemic chorus 'kicks in'. Things considered, that would usually make Figure 5 heinously bad. But, actually, 'Nitty Gritty' is a surprisingly decent cut of darkish glam'a'bang.
The spike and thrust of this track is such that it even manages to equalise lyrics like "I spend ma teenage years on the lash, gettin' smashed" and "bara bupa ba ba ba ba/ba ba bupa ba". Their chorus, not mine. Also, as we know, swearing is neither big nor clever, except when it's done by Scots, when it's fucking funny to boot. Gesticulating in wild, loose-brained speech, a "gash" and a "shite" are dispensed with customary north o' the border charm.
In the heat of this indie-rock fight song accents melt so that, to southern ears, the quintet sound like four Futureheads in places; though even this home countries boy can detect the Glaswegian brogue, decoded by the parts of my brain forever scarred by run ins with festival security staff. Punchier and more direct, similarities with The Fratellis linger like a green guff, though it's Figure 5's conviction and bite that convinces where their more recent tour mates repulse - an opinion borne out, perhaps, in the Futureheads comparison.
The difference is worth mentioning but ultimately negligible - all it really means is that I may have liked it if_ it had come out two years ago, rather than _if my ears were removed and replaced with ring-pulled hand grenades. Worth several throw away listens, 'Nitty Gritty' knows what it wants, gets it and gets out. Figure 5 are going to get a lot more in the next six months or so. You? You'll carry on, most likely.
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5's Score