Before you yell "Another guitar band!" at me, allow me to let you know why Llama Farmers are worth listening to.

Single Snow White should do very well in the USA - despite being from a British band it is American college rock. More Salt has some guitar playing worthy of Ani DiFranco and vocal backdrops that call to mind The Stone Roses. Still other songs sound like Nirvana-induced guitar blow-outs.

Additionally, Llama Farmers are in the happy position of being able to work with Clive Martin, a producer who really ought to be as big as Godrich, Orbit, Flood et al but so far isn't, who allows the band's natural energy to flood through into the recording, all the while adding subtle embellishments to the noise that is produced.

As a second album this shows progression - the melodies are tighter than on Dead Letter Chorus and there is more to listen to; serrated guitars sitting alongside fingered acoustic stuff.

If this isn't enough, fine. You're not going to get anything particularly original from this band - at least not yet - but the words "shows promise" were surely invented for them. Just don't expect too much.

share

end of year feature musicOMH's 50 Best Albums Of 2009 From the nearly 700 albums we reviewed this year, which did our writers love the most? Introduction 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 20-11 | 10-4 | 1-3