Candy for the Clowns [LP]

If Nine Black Alps have made anything clear, it's that they're a band with a vision. Seemingly trying to create a point on a Venn diagram where the '90s in the U.S. touch the '90s in the U.K., the band merges the distinct sounds of the two scenes together, fusing the jangly pop of the Stone Roses with the driving grunge of Nirvana. With their fifth album, Candy for the Clowns, the band continue to tinker with the ratios on an album that finds them refining their hybrid sound. Nine Black Alps' vision is most clear on songs like "Something Else," which seems to drift between the two sounds with its snarling verses and flowing choruses, building up angsty energy and then simply letting it go. For fans looking for more of the same from Nine Black Alps, Candy for the Clowns shows that the band are happy to oblige, offering up an album of revisionist alt rock that's likely to evoke '90s nostalgia for listeners from both sides of the proverbial pond. ~ Gregory Heaney