Gomez – ‘How We Operate’ (Independiente) Released 05/06/06

Back in the day, when hyper colour shirts were cool and the Mercury Music Prize was actually a decent award, a group of lads from sunny ol’ Southport won such an honourable award with their debut album ‘Bring It On’. A year later unbeknownst to the band the MMP was fast developing into a curse as heightened pressure enforced on a group to deliver a followup, became a common thing. Gomez stepped up to the plate and belted out the classic that is ‘Liquid Skin’ which, down to a matter of opinion of course, was as catchy and eclectic as they were gonna get. Yet sadly they received little praise from their homeland critics although it hit the top ten in the UK.

Gomez bounced back again years later with the vastly electronic ‘In Our Gun’ and basically said **** you to everybody who had written them off, as their new direction was fresh yet held all the hallmarks of their previous brilliance. Then back in 2004 they completely shot themselves in the foot, for any old fans who had not taken notice with the inspired masterpiece that was ‘In Our Gun’ certainly weren’t going to come back at the sound of their rough n ready rock-o-rama that was ‘Split The Difference’ that had almost no hallmarks of Gomez of old.

Then when the release of their live album ‘Out West’ bombed, shortly after their label went tits up, it seemed like they could never escape the curse of the Mercury Music Prize, as besides their loyal fans, they just weren’t getting the nods they had become accustomed to anymore. Enter ‘How We Operate’ a twelve track pop song sell-out with some really cheesy moments but all the gusto of a band who probably don’t give a flying **** any longer. The beautiful ‘Notice’ opens up with the lyrics "I Stopped tryin’ to write the things I don’t like, and I started goin’ back to where I’d been before", a defiant statement that could reinforce the rumours that Gomez had been under their record label’s thumb, and a hopeful beginning to their new album as ‘Notice’ has all the hallmarks and scars of past albums with the familiar three vocal drawls that are quite simply the most beautiful thing they have come up with in years.