You can’t fault the Cribs on their choice of collaborators. After working with the esteemed likes of Johnny Marr, Steve Albini and Lee Ranaldo earlier in their career, the Jarman brothers have recruited Cars frontman Ric Ocasek to produce this, their sixth studio album. It’s a fitting choice: For All My Sisters finds the Wakefield indie trio pushing their gleefully ramshackle sound towards poppier parameters. Opener Finally Free hints at the wistful melodicism of Weezer, while lead single Burning for No One flirts lightly with new wave, and Spring On Broadway touches on the powerpop of Big Star or Matthew Sweet. Not that there’s ever any danger of things sounding too polished: the messy guitar lines and yelp-along choruses of Different Angle and Summer Of Chances remind you that this is still certifiably the Cribs. Only when they deviate from the tried and true do things go a little awry, as with Pink Snow, a seven-minute album closer that aims for slow-burning, but ends up feeling baggy and unfocused. But given the focus and fun shown elsewhere, you’re willing to forgive them the odd indulgence.
