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As bold and listenable as it is, Primary Colours is occasionally scattered, giving the impression that the band is trying on different sounds for size--although the fact that most of it works so well is actually more surprising than how different it is than their earlier work.
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The pure emotion and aggressiveness isn’t suppressed or transformed into something else, but rather just given room for some thought, allowed to open itself up and find the strange flowers within.
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While it'd be ridiculously premature to cast The Horrors as the future of anything, this is a bold and often brilliant step in that direction.
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Primary Colours is a reminder that young British bands can actually progress to brilliant new heights, and perhaps, just perhaps, the occasional surprise in these media saturated times isn’t as endangered a beast as previously thought.
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MojoThe Horrors are operating at a way more advanced level, dragging rock, feedback-drenched, electronic and electrifying, into a new decade. [Jun 2009, p.101]
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If there's a more surprising album this year, we'll be, er, um, surprised; Primary Colours is one of the best albums of 2009 so far.
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Time will tell how Primary Colours stands up to the likes of "Loveless" or "Psychocandy," but right now, this feels like the British art-rock album we’ve all been waiting for.
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The Horrors instead set out to redefine the band and its purpose, their second album an exciting result.
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The Horrors' shoegazer makeover aside, the real story here is Badwan's growing confidence as a singer, and his willingness to sound more scared than scary. Primary Colours loses its radiance when he reverts back to bogeyman type.
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At times exhausting, at other times exhilarating, Primary Colours is more an experience than an album and, despite its flaws, one that deserves to be heard.
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Like the rest of Primary Colours, this is the sound of a band finding themselves out of favor and having to really strive for greatness. The Horrors will still have a hard time winning over new converts, but they’ve done a magnificent job of confounding expectations with this release.
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Q MagazineIt seems they've raised their game in hallucinogenic style. [Jun 2009, p.135]
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Against all odds, and for no earthly reason at all, these London goth-punk fashion plates suddenly sound as demented and hungry as they look.
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The result boasts an admirably moody menace, but lacks the debut's darkly comic drive.
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The Horrors have gone from terrifying to haunting, an effect that lingers far longer.
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Even at their most ordinary, they now sound like the Psychedelic Furs featuring Kevin Shields, which is no bad thing. But the biggest surprise, given their prior commitment to brevity, is how fully they inhabit the longer songs.
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UncutThe quintet's transformation from schlocky garage urchins to ambassadors of thrilling new-wave can largely be attributed to Portishead's Geoff Barrow, who, alongside Chris Cunningham, produced "Primary Colours," uncovering a formidable band beneath the haircuts. [Jun 2009, p.86]
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Under The RadarPrimary Colours doesn't hit its stride until the very end, however, with the title track and the 'Sea Within A Sea,' where at times it feels like there is no sight of land. [Summer 2009, p.66]
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If The Horrors began as a Halloween novelty, Primary Colours is like a twisted ending right out of the Twilight Zone--a hype beast that turned out to be a real monster.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 56 out of 62
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Mixed: 3 out of 62
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Negative: 3 out of 62
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JoeSMay 15, 2009
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Nov 15, 2020
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Oct 24, 2011