Western Approaches

'Western Approaches', a fitting title for a band who's spent much of the last two years living their American dream, however you'll find its origins are a lot closer to home. An old World War II Naval base in Liverpool city centre shares the same name and it's no coincidence. The album was conceived on the docks, a new location for the band and again much closer to home for the boys. This nostalgia and a dockland setting provided a post-war aesthetic to inspire the album, reflected in the name and the artwork. America had also become a new pasture for the band which you can really hear in this album. A change from the well polished, clean cut sonic that had become a theme in the band's previous works and replaced with the raw energy they're known to produce onstage. The industrial influence is reflected in the production and it became a conscious effort to add more sound effects, distortions and echoes into the arrangement of the songs.