The Wombats sport fun lyrics, mature sound

Perhaps the phrase that best describes The Wombats’ musical style would be ‘tongue-in-cheek… Perhaps the phrase that best describes The Wombats’ musical style would be ‘tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy’ — only with more comedy and a lot less romance. Imagine if ‘Dumb and Dumber’ met ‘As Good as it Gets,’ and you’re on the right track.

A Guide to Love, Loss ‘amp; Desperation, the band’s first studio album, makes a strong case for its popularity and how it might explode beyond the band’s home of Liverpool in the near future. Take heed, however — as it warns in the song ‘Kill the Director,’ ‘This is no Bridget Jones.’

The band’s strength is twofold, with the lyrics coming first. The songs are funny, highlighting topics from men’s ignorance on the female species — ‘Here’s another song about a gender I’ll never understand,’ they sing — to an unrequited love affair with a stripper and the darker points of monogamy.

One lyrically creative surprise is ‘Here Comes the Anxiety,’ which starts out by declaring, ‘I’d say this is the darkest song I ever wrote / No hint of a smile or the usual quirky anecdote / No this is a song about someone new / What not to say, what not to do / So now I just think I’ll be honest.’ It’s a delightful jab at emo music. The second strength is the music. You’ll bop your head to the beat almost throughout the duration — instead of smashing their instruments senseless like the members of many punk bands unfortunately do, they let the natural rhythm of each song claw their way through your mind.

As a whole, the entire CD is basically the group flexing the musical muscles it’s toned through years of practice, as each song has its own intonation and range without sounding like the last track. In some instances, especially near the end of the album, one could probably detect the slightest throwback to disco.

But all good things do have their gripes. The lyrics are just funny, not hilarious. Some of the metaphors employed are ridiculous — ‘She’s signed, sealed and lost in the post’– but it’s a fun ridiculousness that still sticks in your mind. It’s what The Kinks had going for them back in its heyday, and The Wombats are following in its footsteps.

In short, this is a fun album. Listening to it in the car is like having your drunk best friend telling you his outlandish but still entertaining stories, with plenty of shouting ‘Woo!’ in between. Is it really necessary for almost every song in the album to contain ‘woo,’ possibly the most commonly used word in music (with ‘baby’ a close second)?