Rifferama

Thrum: “Rifferama” (Fire Records)

Thrum are a four-piece based in Glasgow, Scotland and fronted by female vocalist and guitarist Monica Queen who co-writes everything with guitarist John Smillie. They also happen to be one of Grant Lee Buffalo’s favourite bands of the moment.

What’s really great about Thrum, though, is that they have managed to steer clear of the po-faced inverted snobbery of what used to be known as “The Sound of Young Scotland” whilst also avoiding the pitfalls of pandering to English critics’ whimsy. The reward for such single-mindedness is an album of scintillating and thoroughly enjoyable rock music. Okay, so the presence of Neil Young past, present and future is quite apparent. But, hey, that’s not such a bad influence now is it?

The disc opens up with the title track ‘Rifferama’, a psychedelic guitar blitz that owes as much to Punk and Grunge as it does to underground late ’Sixties melodic distortion. Queen sets the pace for the other ten tracks by slipping and sliding all over the place as she manically intones themes of search, denial and condemnation through a kaleidoscopic personalised colour code. As with the rest of the album, the guitar playing is quirky and innovative, and cleverly wild.

‘You Wish’ is the hearth of Rifferama. It’s very much a ballad where the guitar takes a reverent back seat, apart from the odd well-chosen and sympathetic solo. The other slow number ‘Almost Done’ very firmly points out the country influence on Thrum but on ‘You Wish’ Queen’s vocals are laced with lazy jazzy tones which soar epically according to the dictates of piercing lyrics like “I wish I had a stronger heart/Then maybe we could finally part.” It’s genuinely heart-rending stuff, which, naturally, we masochists of desolation cry out for more of.

There’s often a lot of nonsense in the music press about the Next Big Thing or Last Year’s Model but you can rest assured that Thrum have what it takes to shake the complacency out of such faddishness and, while they’re at it, maybe even put some heart and soul back into country rock music. Rifferama is an orgy of driving beat-guitar music to dive into and get lost in. Let it lick you all over.

• Patrick Brennan