Ladies and gents, let’s hear it for texture. An undervalued aspect of music-making, too often overlooked in favour of glossing songs with a widescreen, high-intensity sheen. South London trio Beaty Heart are keen students. Their second album is a dense puzzle that clicks unusual percussion together with the effect of inspired yet weird‑sounding pop. Soft Like Clay has a whiff of Olly Murs about it, except it’s underpinned by syrupy claps and squelchy synths. U Say combines drowsy brass, shattering glass and swooning vocals. Glazed, with its opening line, “I wanna go to a sauna with you”, is steamy with delicate falsetto and something that sounds like a Kokiriko unfurling. R&B-style finger-clicks feature heavily. Scratch the surface, though, and some crushingly average songs lie beneath. Lots of interesting sounds, sure, but these collide rather than connect.
