Album Review: Factorycraft by Found

As an approach to making music, adopting the element of surprise produces some unwieldy results. On one hand, trouncing the expectations of the waiting masses, much like Thom Yorke’s sonic-shifting vagabonds in the early Noughties, can pay critical and commercial dividends, while developing an unprecedented sense of career autonomy. But, in a slightly sweatier, more nervous palm sits the likes of the Klaxons, whose mournful attempts at regeneration fell headlong into an abyss marked 'obliteration'.

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To say that Found's 2011 sophomore effort, Factorycraft, is less experimental than the Scottish trio's 2006 debut, Found Can Move, is to assume that they were really all that experimental in the first place. Yes, Found are also known for their multimedia art installations such as the Cybraphon "robot band" which won a BAFTA in 2009. That said, Found Can Move was about as experimental as any Beta Band release, and pretty much showcased the band's inclination for groove-oriented melodic rock with some interesting field recordings and electronics thrown into the mix.

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Arty Scottish indie collective win both hearts and minds. Johnny Sharp 2011 The path from art school to rock’n’roll band was an oft-trodden one in the 1960s and 70s, but it’s been a road less-travelled in recent years. So in an age of stage-schooled, fame-hungry gottabes, it’s nice to hear a band formed out of a multimedia art collective. Especially one imbued with the sense of mischief and off-kilter ideas you’d associate with that background, but equally in love with some of popular music’s more immediate, soul-stirring properties.

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