‘Heart Map Rubric’ is the debut record from the new Brighton based band The Fiction Aisle, led by Thomas White of Brakes and Electric Soft Parade. So, while this latest incarnation is no simple ESP / Brakes continuation, it’s not surprising that the connections are clearly apparent. Personally, I found ESP’s CD sleeves (and those which housed their releases prior to the addition of the ‘Electric’ prefix) more interesting than their music, but that’s rather by the by.
‘Blue’ sounds like Morrissey in collaboration with Peter Skellern, and ‘Sleep Tonight; brings languid brass to the party. The string-soaked piano-dripping ‘Love Come Save Me’ casts longer, darker shadows and calls to mind early Pulp, and there are no shortage of other fine, quintessentially English indie-pop moments to be found. ‘Each and Every One’ is downtempo and downbeat, while ‘What’s a Man to Do?’ first builds to a Phil Spector-esque wall of sound and ultimately a scorching squall of noise crescendo that’s more I Like Trains than any other act that comes to mind. ‘Outskirts’ is a beautifully hypnotic shoegaze track which is arguably the album’s highlight.
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Anyone after some sweet, vintage-style pop-tinged indie with some depth and variety has come to the right place here.
The Fiction Aisle Online
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