The Thousands

Always a fan of being just that little bit difficult, the second album of Serbian-born sandgroper Predrag Delibasic’s band smRts offers another eight-syllable title to match the nervous clatter of the five-piece’s live presence. With two drummers and three guitarists, all focused on a melodic rhythm resembling what wired street urchins doing wordless eastern-folk might sound like, Have Friends and Visit Them at Night follows the muggy air of Sun Sets on a New Tomorrow with the fresh evening breeze of good production.

Where their 2010 album was recorded in the sweltering heat of summer – for some insane reason electing to do it on one of the hottest days of the year, in a tin shed – this one was recorded at Loop Studios and mastered by Shellac’s Bob Weston in Chicago. Needless to say, Have Friends… has a cooler edge, while mustering the energy that Sun Sets… couldn’t. That way having you twitch to the tug of ‘The Signs Left Behind’ or dancing the kolo over the surf-pop melody of ‘King Wave Rising’. If ever there was a brilliantly odd combination, smRts would be it.