Cuddly Shark -‘The Road To Ugly.’ (Armellodie)

Following on fr

om their self

-titled debut, released back in 2009, ver three-piece Shark prepare to issue their sophomore album, hav

ing prefaced it with the

Body Mass Index EP towards the end last year.

For my money, the two tracks from that EP that reappear here (‘Body Mass Index’ and ‘Overpriced’) are the strongest here, though I’ve got a soft spot for album opener ‘SPMG’ too. Rather like fellow Scots We Are The Physics, there’s a quirk

iness to these two la

ds and lass, and an admirab

le sense of not taking themselves too seriously.

Several listens in, I have to say that I would be lying if I said that I was in love with the whole album. But there are some excellent tracks on offer here, and there are far worse ways of spending thirty-five minutes.

***1/2

The Road To Ugly is released by Armellodie on January 28.

Cuddly Shark -‘Cuddly Shark’ (Armellodie)

Packing a mighty punch, Cuddly Shark follow-up their critically acclaimed singles w

ith this wonderful debut album. Describing themselves as hillbilly r

ockers, the Glasgow-based three-piece have more in common with the likes of Le Reno Amps and Elvis Suicide than, say, the twee indie with which the city is still associated with. They also list Shellac as an influence, which I definitely hear as well. Yet it’s not about where their influences

are from, it’s where they’re going that make this debut such a thrilling, exciting listen.

Right from the opening track ‘Bowl Of Cherries’ the album makes a powerful impression, as does their sense of humour. One track, enti

tled ‘Jamie Foxx on Later With Jools Holland’ is fifty seconds long and states simply ‘I heard you si

ng the worst song I ever heard.’ On Woody Woodpecker’ they casually breeze through more ideas in l

ess than two muinutes than some bands do in an entire career.

It’s not all balls out rock’n’ roll (though see if you can spot the Led-Zep baiting though!), ‘Whiteoaks’ is more wistful and acoustic yet still showcases a sound and song that is uniq

uely their own. And having given the album a blast through, you already find that you can’t cut it down to one or two highlights. They may have fled the bright lights of Elgin (as referred to in ‘The Punisher of IV30’) but this band are truly one of the most exciting bands in Scotland right now.

****
Cuddly Shark is out now on Armellodie Records.

Cuddly Shark website/Cuddly Shark myspace

Cuddly Shark will be playing the following live dates:

TODAY (Monday November 16) – Captain’s Rest, Glasgow (With The Elvis Suicide); Saturday December 5 -Dirty Martini’s, Kilmarnock; Thursday 21st January – Nice N Sleazys, Glasgow; Friday 22nd January – Hootenannys, Inverness; Saturday 23rd January – Drummonds, Aberdeen; Sunday 24th January – Sneaky Petes, Edinburgh.

This is the video for Woody Woodpecker

Oh, and the first ten tracks of the album are on the myspace page.