Now, I’m hardly saying yourcodenameis:milo is doing that, but at a time when most mainstream British rock is very fucking bland, you can forgive people for thinking that the Tyneside noiseniks are. They’ve slowly built themselves a reputation for art, noise and music, and the debut E.P., “All Roads to Fault”, was certainly a sterling effort, despite the fact it was lacking in a few ways. What makes art exciting is that artists rarely stick to one type of painting for too long, and luckily the same applies to arty music. Milo could have very easily re-done “All Roads to Fault” and let NME pick them up, but by making a radically different, darker tone on their debut LP they’re proving to everyone who’ll listen that they are here to make a difference.

Don’t expect to get it straight away. “Ignoto” is twelve songs of much a more varied and strong quality than their first attempt. You only have to listen to “Rapt Dept” or subsequent track “Schteeve” to hear that ycni:m have gone down a far darker, yet more enjoyable route in making this album. Both songs brilliantly combine sludgy riffs and beautiful pop melodies in very different ways. What really makes this album enjoyable is its variation: not one song sounds the same, yet there is a constant noise, or flow if you will, that keeps it going in a fairly orderly fashion. The heart-warming “Team Radar” sounds like a beautiful Joy Division b-side, whereas the fast paced heroics of “17” is what makes this album really interesting. The problem is there is only a certain amount of this blatant art-noise-rock a human can take at a time. When you get into the last third of the album, you’re head begins to swell up with overproduced, oversaturated noisy sounds that we really could do without. Ok, I’m not taking away that Flood has done a stunner, as usual, on this album, but after the umpteenth time change or repetitive droning sound, be it guitars or Paul’s sometimes testing vocals, there’s suddenly a lack of songs you can hold onto. Eventually, this album turns into a cold, emotionless robot, programmed to be as complex as it can be without blowing up or whatnot, and there’s very little the listener can relate to. Then final track “Audition/Unfinished Drawings of Cats” comes onto your speakers and it’s suddenly the best thing you’ve heard all over again. You’re remembering the great bits from earlier, which still stuck in this arty mass of noise. So, it would be very fair to say that you should give it a few listens before really forming an opinion. Most people will have their own thoughts on this album, but hardly any can take away that this is a gem in the making, providing the band learn to stop making every song a total spree of noise and repetition. Yes. Keep it for a couple of songs, because when it works, it really does, but it’s disappointing to see a potentially brilliant band hold them back for the sakes of being different. Its obvious yourcodenameis:milo could be making something fantastic that everyone can enjoy on a non-superficial level, but until they learn not to make a whole album in the way they do, no matter how individual it may be, they could shoot themselves in the foot and leave themselves at a disappointing end where no one really appreciated them the way they should have. Give it a few listens and you’ll love it, for some reason or another, and you will get slightly annoyed, want more, and crave to know just what they will come up with next.

Adam Turner-Heffer