Cancel The Astronauts -‘Animal Love Match’ (Riley Records)

Over the last few

years, I’ve enjoyed the slow but steady stream of EPs and singles put out

by Edinburgh’s fine indie-pop band Cancel The Astronauts. The release of their debut album Animal Love Match is a cause for celebration, delivering on the promise of those earlier releases by producing a fantastic album. And all the more impressive as a debut.

Including two earlier singles ‘Intervention’ and ‘Seven Vices’ the end result is an album which is impressive from start to finish. As you’d expect from a band who released a song called ‘I Am The President Of Your Fanclub (And Last Night I Followed You Home)’ there is a degree of humour and fun here, without being irritatingly twee. Yet they can also do epic anthems without descending into bombast or ever trying to sound like any anaemic indie stadium fillers [fill in name of your choice].

So yes, they are local (to me) -but I have no hesitation in recommending this album to people who enjoy fantastic music. It’s about

to hit the shops a week ahead of the new Mumford & Sons album, and it would be great if CTA got the amount of coverage that album will.

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Animal Love Match is released on Riley Records on September 17.

You really should try buying this album from your local independent record shop first and foremost. If you can’t get to one, you can order it from the band themselves

The album launch on Saturday has been cancelled but will hopefully be rescheduled for Nov

ember…