Wack Lyrical

When it comes to lyrics I suppose expectation needs to be low if the group is called "Biffy Clyro". Does Biffy Clyro sound better than Cliffy Byro, or vice versa? Jaz doesn't fall even slightly harder on either one, which would suggest that it's potentially the world's worst bandname ever. Feel free to comment.

Biffy Clyro's fifth album Only Revolutions (yes, they do know English words) has taken them from the iPods of Scottish goths and Cathouse frequenters (that's the name of a metal/punk/alt club, not a stripper joint) to the listeners of Radio 1 and thereby the wider British subconscience. In fact, some critics have dubbed them Ayrshire's answer to the Foo Fighters and, while I think scrawny Simon Neil  has some way to go to rival the onstage leonine prowess of Dave Grohl, musically the album is packed full of punchy choruses and hooks that demand only your best air guitar.

One thing really does set them back, however, and for this Jaz returns to the initial notion. When your name is Biffy Clyro, Christ alone knows what your lyrics are going to be like. One particular case in point is a track called Born On A Horse - not a promising start. The opening line: "I like to call it Aluminium/Cos there's an 'i' beteween the 'u' and 'm'." Yes Simon, a lot of us do call it Aluminyum... are you the pronounciaton police? "She's got eyes/Preposterous eyes"... well, horses and people do have eyes but how exactly can eyes be preposterous? Wouldn't it be more preposterous if one didn't have eyes? And the climax: "I've never had a lover who's my sister or my brother before." Thanks for clearing that up.

Either this is a narrative study of the slurred, malnourished and inbred members of small towns in Alabama or Simon Neil has been spending too many hours playing with his fridge poetry magnets. On the upside, it's very catchy...



Jaz x

P.S. The Soft Pack interview to come tomorrow!