Alright The Captain – Contact Fix Review

If you want to take a peek inside the imaginative minds of Alright the Captain you could do worse than to check out the wonderfully surreal album art from bassist/synth man Todd. Joined by Marty on guitar and Jamie on drums (marking his debut with the band), their latest album Contact Fix is as rich, detailed and often as bonkers and beguiling as the image which adorns the cover.

Following on from their debut album SNIB, Alright the Captain returned to the Snug Recording studio after a hugely successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign and emerged with the long-awaited album Contact Fix, its seven tracks furthering their idiosyncratic math-rock sound.

Opening track Toaster Mouse kicks things immediately into gear, its driving drums and bass underscoring an evolving synth before going off the rails into a series of jazz inflected riffs and heavy guitars. After an energetic crescendo a woman's voice announces, "It's fucking freezing," and the grungy Baltirific takes over – that is until the grunge gives way to prog and it becomes clear that Contact Fix isn't afraid to really mix up the styles.

This rich tapestry of influences – which never feels redundant or derivative – dominates Contact Fix and the album is all the better for it. Alright the Captain are as comfortable with the technical intricacies of math-rock for which they are perhaps best known as they are with developing a grand sense of scale with ever-swelling chord progressions, or allowing the synths to hint at electronic realms. In lesser hands these dynamic and tonal shifts could end up jarring – instead, what you get with Contact Fix is a playful contrast seamlessly arranged from one track to the next.

This audacious approach certainly keeps the listener constantly on their toes and is perhaps most evident on one of the album's highlights, Ben and Barbara. It's a track which genre hops in a knowingly referential, almost ironic manner and suggests that Alright the Captain clearly had a load of fun putting Contact Fix together. This ripe, refreshing concoction of post rock goodness is characteristic of an album which is consistently inventive from start to finish.

Buy your copy of Contact Fix here: http://alrightthecaptain.bandcamp.com/

Alright the Captain are currently in the midst of a packed tour schedule – if you want to check them out live for yourself here's where you'll need to be: