Album review: Time Will Pass, The Urges

History has consistently told us that long periods of inactivity can break a band, or at the very least, sap the excitement from their marrow. For Dublin’s The Urges though, it seems to have had the opposite effect: their first album in nearly a decade has all the vim and vigour of a group just out of the starting blocks. Lyrically fuelled by the realisation that no-one can halt the march of time, their second LP is a sophisticated, richly textured psych rock riot.

Opening proceedings with the horn and Hammond organ-laden lullaby ‘Passing Us By’, there are plenty of trippy treats to be found on the 10 track LP. The hypnotic, cinematic, sitar-driven ‘In The End’ is a huge moment, as is the seductive and slinky ‘Meanwhile’, which wouldn’t sound out of place on Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions project. Singer Jim Walters is the band’s MVP and his laconic croon is like a mix of Ian McCulloch and James Skelly, particularly on the frantic rocker ‘A Face Made For Sorrow’. Yes, the likes of The Doors, Love and more recently Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster have ploughed similar paths, but this is one time warp you’ll want to do again (and again).