All kinds of craziness. From the cheeky wondrousness of 'I Nearly Crashed My Car' to the in your face integrity of 'Fraudulent', from the droning-beauty of '21 Years' to the jazzy nuttiness of 'Trans-Siberian Express', this is like the crazy compilation your mad aunt would send you if you were stranded on a desert island with five ill-informed albums choices.

 

“It is only through immersing ourselves in insanity that we can truly understand the sane,” said Gigwise five words ago. Confused? Intrigued? Not half as much as you will be by this 12 track debut from a bunch of loveable Liverpuddlians. The quartet make merry hell breaking genre boundaries, bonding idioms together with as little regard for taste or decency as Gigwise has for syntax or grammar. The results are absolutely fabulous. “Uncontrollable”, for example, rivets a stomping art rock intro onto to a reggae bounce without so much as a “1,2,3,4” before rounding off with full on choral humming. “Stability” wanders nervously in melodic rock’s A list party, takes a look, feels out of place, so ends up back in the blues party occasionally grabbing a canapé from punk’s buffet when it’s not looking.

 

The monkey noises, however, are just plain odd. Ditto the high pitched orgasmic gasping at the end of the punky rockabilly 'Cash Advance'. However, such moments are definitely the right side of endearing and amusing; in fact they are probably hosting the awards ceremony. Usually up beat, energetic and shot through with enthusiasm, the Cossies do show turns of tenderness. The very bluesy 'Dull Boy' is sweet and gentle (up until the howl-a-long Cash-riffed finale) and the gentle ballad “Still” is tear-jerking stuff: “I knew it wont work/ because we both went beserk/ we thought that we hadn’t/ started moving on./ I still love you.” It’s bound to be overlooked in favour of bouncy, wittier numbers like 'Fraudulent' and it’s anti-fashion sentiment (“and you know it’s a crime/ to pay that much for a haircut”) but actually this gentle, mellow, softly sung song is one of the most straightforward and straightforwardly brilliant songs on the album.

 

Here, on 'Still', we get to hear the heart of 28 Costumes, and see/hear through the many guises and genres that they dress themselves up in. Not that I’m complaining, as the carnival of aural colour which they paint is a pleasure to listen to in any setting, but it is good to hear the subtle and smart song-writing that under-pins it all without the distractions. 'Still' reveals the method in the madness behind the skiffle-pop, out-of breath 'Cash Advance' and the start-stop-jump-riffs of 'Hurricane', for example, and as such, I feel we can appreciate them more. You could quite easily take The Fake Death Experience at face value; an energetic, bouncy piece of novelty rock with some great riffs, good hooks and sharply funny observations. Fun for all the family. Or you can listen a bit closer and notice the accomplished artistry at work. Which is, at times, quite breathtaking. All kinds of goodness.