Two years ago, Scottish trio The Fratellis burst onto the rock scene with their swaggering debut album Costello Music. As we all fell in love with their heady mix of T.Rex pop sensibilities and Oasis-esque brutish bravado, it was hard not to be captured under the spell of the seemingly ubiquitous single ‘Chelsea Dagger.’ And so, as their most famous single to date still receives almost constant airplay, singer and main songwriter Jon Fratelli took himself off to make the follow up to his first effort in a bid to keep the momentum going.
So how does the follow-up measure up? Well, putting it plainly, Here We Stand is more of the same really. In fact after a few spins, this writer got the distinct impression that he’d already heard these songs before. ‘Mistress Mabel’ is a fun but thought-free glam rock stomp, as is the 70s-Bowie-isms of ‘Shameless’, but ultimately everything sounds like it was rushed in order to capitalise on their previous successes, and somewhat disappointingly, there is nothing on offer to rival the all-conquering ‘Chelsea Dagger,’ which at this stage must seem like an albatross around their necks. Here We Stand is by no means a bad record, it’s just that we’ve come to expect a lot better.

Key track: ‘Mistress Mabel’