White Lies - Big TV

Earlier this month I was at a wedding in Newcastle. Now two things were playing on my mind that day. One: one of my best friends was getting bloody well married! A scary prospect when you still think of yourself as young, free and single, you're the oldest of your group of friends and one of them's getting hitched! Two: I was in a town that had an obscene amount of choice when it comes to buying music, especially vinyl.

I was very diligent and chose my time carefully to quickly nip off to go after a record I was very much looking forward to getting a hold of. I am a bit of a White Lies fan, I don't know if it's Harry McVeigh and his distinctly brilliant voice, the way they mold great electric guitar with keys and electronic sounds, or the way they craft melodies . . . probably all of these, but I really love them.

'Ritual' rarely left my record deck and their new record 'Big TV' is starting to do the same. At first it didn't grab as much as 'Ritual' did, it doesn't have that particular haunting feeling, there's still a little of it there, but it's rather more upbeat.

The title track 'Big TV' is a stand out tune with a ridiculously simple guitar riff at the end that just hits me, I love the sound. Beyond my personal favourite 'First Time Caller' the record doesn't really reach those heights of the first few tracks with 'Space i' being just a wee precursor to some of the ideas on the way. I do like the record as whole, but its stand outs sit on the A Side, with some fairly good tunes on the B.

As a package the vinyl's nothing to shout about, it sounds great on the deck, good weighty record, the usual mp3 code to get your digital fix. A good record, if mildly disappointing in parts, but it's grown on me over time. It's rarely not playing in my car on an mp3 disc.

The wedding was utterly blissful, friends got married in an art gallery, astounding setting. I also finally bought Alabama Shakes 'Boys & Girls' when I got this, great day all round.

Listen: Spotify