Album Review: We are Scientists – ‘Brain/Thrust/Mastery’

By Jeff Swindoll May 23, 2008, 13:18 GMT

We Are Scientists shocked themselves and impressed many others with their 2005 debut \'With Love & Squalor\', which went gold in the UK (145,000 units) on the strength of the already-classic singles \'The Great Escape\', \'Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt\' and \'It\'s A Hit\'. Twenty months of near-constant touring culminated in a sold-out UK tour, including two nights at Brixton Academy in autumn 2006, plus a very pleasant Christmas. The ...more

We are Scientist was formed by Keith Murray (vocals, guitar) and Chris Cain (bass, backing vocals) in 2000.  The name comes from a conversation that the lads had with a truck driver who at first asked them if they were brothers and then asked if they were scientists.  Hilarious. 

I had somebody ask me if I was Canadian once because I ended a question with “eh.”  They describe themselves as “A three-tusked mastodon. A triple mohawk. A flight from New York to L.A. with three layovers.”  The band has a surreal sense of humor, just visit www.wearescientists.com or view one of their music videos. 

Drummer Michael Tapper has left the group and “Brain/Thrust/Mastery” is their first album without him.  They describe their music as “rock music of the thoughtful, sometimes epic, often loud, vaguely danceable, implicitly humanist variety.” 

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too after listening to “Brain/Thrust/Mastery.”  Actually, I found the album both thoughtful and danceable.  It has a sense of mellow as well as some tunes that rock out.  A few bits even sounded like something from Bowie, which is never a bad thing with me. 

I found myself drawn into the album and hanging on for each subsequent song.  I’d say that there’s some definite mastery, my brain liked it, and I’ll leave the imagination to decide on the proper use of thrust.