Some people smoke crack and some people listen to bands like Glasgow’s very own Wojtek The Bear whilst enjoying a soya latté in their local Costa. It’s a lifestyle choice, of course, and the people who expect to live beyond next Thursday will no doubt enjoy “Shaking Hands with the NME.”
“Shaking Hands With The NME” could easily be described as a convincing slice of on the spectrum indie pop with a near obsessive desire to stay on the mellow side of the street. Nothing wrong with that, of course, and, for a Glasgow band, this is a notably literate attempt at reminding the world that there is something other than misery north of the border with those laidback, and indeed often laconic, lyrics providing a valid reason to consider this album less an example of stylised melancholy and more one of oblique reflection on the lives of those whose ears are haunted by the heartbroken ghost of today.
Wojtek The Bear are far from fluffy even if first acquaintance with this album would suggest that all that is here is merely easy on the ear and soon to be forgotten. Dig deeper and you will find more of value than might be expected of a band of these times. Heartless it is not.
Now, where did I put that crack pipe?