Fix Yourself, Not the World

A thrilling and thoughtful pop experience.

Perhaps it’s their captivating storytelling taking a psychological turn, or maybe it’s the way they’ve incorporated cutting edge electronica, pop and R&B elements into the melodic energies of classic new wave, alt-rock and indietronica, but, ‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ is a record that will appeal. It is arguably their best work yet.

‘Ready For The High’ barely sits still for a verse at a time, ducking between buzz-rock, falsetto funk and bits that seem written for the first dance at the marriage of MGMT and Jungle. The rest of the album further delivers: confident funk pop (‘Wildfire’, ‘Worry’) and inventive future disco (‘This Car Drives All By Itself’, ‘People Don’t Change People, Time Does’) are staples, but the palette is wide here, the brushstrokes bold.

When they’re on the game, The Wombats are well capable of turning heads and catching ears (People Don’t Change People, Time Does) and they have a pleasing habit of writing songs that sound remarkably cheerful despite sporting bleak subject matter (Everything I Love Is Going To Die). They’re not always successful.

Fix Yourself, Not the World isn’t going to change the face of music, but nor is it going to do anything to impede the Wombats’ latter-day progress.

The best tracks were released last year: Ready for the High is a deliciously weird cut-and-shut, and Method to the Madness has a lovely collapsed feeling. Mostly the album settles for sprightly mediocrity, and is often quite pleasurable, if you define pleasure as the absence of pain.