Nightshift 'Homosapien'

 

Third album from Glasgow quartet out now via Trouble in Mind

Following on from the stellar workings of the sophomore offering, Zoe (2021), the Glasgow based four-piece return with more of the same and something a bit more.

A combination of DIY basement, jam music but with a lyrical melody running throughout; the band have had some changes in personnel and position as Chris White moves from drums to lead guitar and this personality shift has led to a more driving lead sound from his strings.

The best song on the album 'Sure Look' is indicative of this driving statement of intent, pulsating energy coursing through and yet reflective in the same breath.

The lyrical content ranges from self-preservation in these existential times and yet the DNA of post-punk resonates throughout from the slow hum of say 'Cut' to opener 'Crystal Ball' which is at times psychedelic. It is always better when a band shows a different string to their bow without losing sight of their own identity.

A hypnotic album that grows upon you with each listen, this is a band still growing and hopefully garner a greater following in the coming years.

Homosapien is out now from Trouble in Mind Records

What The Dead Want - MJ Lee

 

Tenth book in thrilling Manchester based detective series by MJ Lee

Author Lee burst into this reader's viewpoint in 2019 when the second book of the series Where The Dead Fall was released on NetGalley. From there this reader has looked forward to each release with relish as to how DI Thomas Ridpath, but his friends just call him Ridpath is navigating the delicate balancing act of working for the coroner's office and being seconded to the police office with the melting of law enforcement and investigation of suspicious deaths meeting.

At the end of book nine, What The Shadows Hide, Ridpath was dealing with the tragic injury of his boss Coroner Challinor who was attacked by an assailant and left for dead. The book begins with her still in a coma some months later, with Ridpath working for a new boss who is nothing like his predecessor. 

A good mark of any crime detective series is that the hero detective is only as good as his opponent, and in this new novel What The Dead Want, we have the unlikely return of the evil pathologist Harold Lardner who has planned a series of murders despite being behind bars..

A mysterious disappearance of a young boy in Manchester during the Covid lockdown is investigated and leads to a care home which itself had a spike in suspicious deaths with organs removed from cadavers from being moved from care home to the mortuary slab.

As ever, Lee writes with such efficient fluency and swiftness that you are never left in doubt about the action taking place. Ridpath continues to have to deal with office politics and the new know-it-all detective Helen Shipton brings its own problems, with her being in direct conflict to Ridpath's loyal footsoldiers.

The other notable note of credit to Lee is that he loves writing Ridpath and his characters, and he can still get me with a surprise twist in terms of narrative pull. Something else he does well is elicit correctly the feel and atmosphere of being in February - cold, miserable and dire. 

This is another excellent entry into the Ridpath series; and his second excellent novel of this calender year.

What The Dead Want is out now from Canelo on all formats.