The hype that accompanied Pins’ early career, based chiefly on the lo-fi cool of their live shows, made you fear for their future. But the Manchester female quartet’s second record feels like a confident step forward. There’s an appealing mix of spikiness and swoon to their blend of distorted guitars, dazed harmonies and 80s-indebted indie jangle, and although derivative, they bring energy and drama to their source material. Dazed By You makes heavy-lidded doe eyes before building to a frenzied cacophony. Oh Lord combines a Pixies-aping bass line with punchy guitars and sexual unease. A certain blank-faced cool remains a part of their appeal, but it’s combined with some terrific songwriting.
