Everything Everything (EE) have challenged themselves to construct an even more intriguing, pop-laced offering compared to their previous five releases. They have come up from the surface of a sub-lunar landscape with a sublime, future classic. Now that Wild Beasts are no more, the space left behind is ready for filling with left-field lyricism and ridiculously catchy and intelligent songwriting. Barely a note or keyboard frill is wasted in their quest for melancholic perfection that still allows you to dance furiously and coo aloud, like nobody is ever really watching. 

Raw Data Feel achieves what few of EE’s - admittedly excellent - previous albums have done : it is, prettmuch immediately - as in first listen - stuck to your pleasure zones and those suckers aren’t letting go. It is also an album that, whilst maintaining a loose concept of millennial soul-searching, divides itself neatly into pure, fizz popping gloriousness early doors, then searches for its soul with a keening sensibility as the game is played out over its close to 55 minute run time. Damn those naysayers who believe that the youts want just a few songs scattered around the ether and endless playlists. This album DEMANDS repeated listening, inasmuch as it confounds expectations by not completely abandoning the drums, bass, guitar and keyboards template so lovingly set up on Man Alive back in 2010, then cultured into beautiful, tangible shapes over the ensuing quartet of equally deserving releases. And, the lyrics, yes the lyrics. They FIT the music like a puffy, velvet glove, lined with Kingfisher feathers. 

Where to start with this opus - perhaps at the end? ‘Software Greatman’ is EE at their most intimately epic, repeatedly asking the listener “Are you a gambling man?” whilst Jonathan Higgs’s falsetto is processed and mutated into a blissed out, modulated moan; then, just as the song fades, a keyboard strain emerges from the white ice, like a late 80’s rave anthem has returned from its never properly dug grave. Incandescence and solemnity combine to devastating effect. 

The sequencing is important, here. EE are accomplished masters at grabbing the listener’s attention within the opening three or four tracks. This proves no exception. Kicking proceedings off with the hormonal release of ‘Teletype’, accompanied by one of the most flat out weird videos of the year, so far; Jonathan feels ‘good’ and ‘okay’ then goes into hyperdrive with the refrain “You could / might be everything that I want.” This segues into the even more upbeat ‘I want a love like this’ (‘I feel ALIVE’), keyboard and machine sounds bouncing and bounding around in the background, providing a slightly unsettling musical backdrop, coupled with a rumbling bass pulse that, again, extols the unburnished JOY of finding a love in uncharted territory. 

The layer cake is juiced up still further with the sly introduction of ‘Bad Friday’ which reads like a night out going horribly wrong; yet EE will always leave you guessing as to the real message behind it all. There’s that delicious sense of unease again. Just when you thought… more extensive POPPERMOST magnificence arrives in the form of ‘Pizza Boy’ where the choice between Pepsi or Coke takes on more sinister significance and the over-reliance on mobile devices is gently mocked - ‘Is it fun on your own?’ It is addictive and takes about 1 listen to hook you in. 

Then, proceedings take an even more irresistible mantle. ‘Jennifer’ has such a sublimely sad chorus, accentuated by a gently twanged guitar chord : “Cause the pain in the end / Is all in your memory / Try it again, try it another way.” It may be their most straightforwardly beautiful song about just being in and out and in and out of love, driven by multi-tracked background voices and a propulsive rhythm. It is arresting, truly, madly deeply and makes this listener feel like a lovelorn 18 year old again. 

A recurring motif about a character called Kevin crops up in ‘Metroland is Burning’ that deals in epic gestures and is revisited in the song ‘Kevin’s Car’ towards the end of this addictive album which contains one of the very sweetest lyrics : “And while my mind’s erasing, I’m falling into you.”  These constant choruses are so gorgeous, so alive, so beautiful, despite the inchoate sadness permeating every groove, heightened by Higgs’s sweet-toothed falsetto and baritone croon. 

The halfway point is reached and ‘Leviathan’ rises to the surface, its pre-chorus picked out in guitar chords. This may be EE’s most delicately formidable tune with simple, direct chorus lines: “When I saw you / I fell in love / You know you are / You’re my beginning”, cascading off backs like eel-shaped rainbows. The blues, purples and oranges blend irrepressibly and that chorus just burrows with precision-like grace into your earspace. 

The bass pulse erupts again with ‘Shark Week’, asking questions in its chorus and asserting “I’ve got the strength of a million rising up inside”. Like I said, a CELEBRATION ; yet, tempered with that plangent guitar chord again, punctuated by elegant keyboard stabs and the layers of epic swells. ‘Cut Up!’ recalls the manic effervescence of ‘Distant Past’ and ‘Suffragette Suffragette’ with equally bizarre, self-referential bon mots - “The widow / meathead / Kevin / Pizza boy told me.” Its slightly unhinged qualities are massively exciting and could lead to mass dancefloor swamping. ‘HEX’ extends the crazed metaphor still further - “The seed inside your skull is a watermelon” // “...and they’re putting something in the water.” The guitar solo is percussive and poignant but only for just the seconds it takes for you to draw breath. 

Upbeat still and here comes ‘My Computer’, playing on the album’s title, being “in love with the future” ; in fact, this album has future proofness locked into its template, as every song reveals multi-coloured layers of appreciation for the listener. The loveliness of ‘Born Under a Meteor’ that precedes the epic ‘Software Greatman’ (see above) cannot be underestimated. It is a head song : your legs will shuffle meekly, yet your heart will react to the kissable guitar lines and the exclamation of ‘O Lucky Me!’, assailed by chunky guitar chords and a Hammond swirl of sorts. 

Everything Everything is one of our most under-appreciated bands. Now is the time to REALLY start taking notice, to really start listening and not let this necessarily frequent genius pass you by, at any time, NOW or in the immediate future. Your time given up will be rewarded endlessly. Then return to the richest, most readily evolving back catalogue. Disappointment is not, no never a word bandied about when encountering this most humble of our bands. It is your duty to not miss out, now or ever. 

“Are you a gambling man?”, Higgs repeats on the closing track. EE are a safe bet for personal transformation. If that is what you’re after (and you know it is), then grab at it with both hands, outstretched and beckoning towards the blazing sun. There lies your future - and it is beaming bright!!

Hugh Ogilvie