The Wedding Present

At this point, if the Wedding Present were to make some kind of drastic change to their distinctive sound, it would be rather unpleasant and jarring. There have been some subtle shifts over the band's 25-year career, including the Cinerama dalliance, but they are still unrivalled when it comes to the world of indie rock. Their eighth studio album, Valentina, is a great record for all the customary reasons. There are songs here (most notably "Back a Bit... Stop") that could quite happily fit on some of those early album, thanks to the frenetic guitars, and that hasn't been the case in a while. David Gedge still writes the best forlorn lyrics around, even if he does find himself on the other side of the breakup more often these days, and his words are still the most compelling reason to listen, although the wonderful guitars are a close second. It's business as usual for the Wedding Present, but in the best possible way.