Desensitised
Sister Psychosis – Sound Hub Records
There’s an ease to how Sister Psychosis earworms its way into your head. You could think it’s just another alt rock album as it kicks off, but then you find yourself playing it again and again. And then those hooks start nagging you to hum songs when you’re not actually listening to the album, like at the supermarket, or at work. Desensitised sit somewhere between rock, pop punk and grunge without sounding at all out of place. So they have the broad appeal box well and truly ticked. Charlotte May Radford’s vocal comes in strong and clear with a hint of Americana down in the mix. It’s great to hear the record hasn’t dulled the power she delivers at live shows. The flamboyance of Libby Butters-Smith guitar work and the solid drumming of Claire Brookes are well represented too, so much so you can almost see all those faces Libby pulls on stage as you listen. With crowd funding now a more fraught business you have to give this young Nottingham band full credit for opting to run their own fund raiser and for putting out such a professionally recorded, mixed and finished album. You’d be forgiven for thinking this was a major label release at times. Fresh sounding and polished just so Sister Psychosis lays down a marker as a potential debut album of the year.
Review by Gary Trueman