The Cribs return strong on ‘Selling A Vibe’, review

For a band long defined by the push and pull between punk urgency and pop instinct, you can usually sense where The Cribs are heading by looking at who they invite into the studio. Their abrasive and unvarnished 2017 album ‘24-7 Rock Star Shit’ was shaped with the help of legendary producer Steve Albini, while the new album ‘Selling A Vibe’ takes a sharp left turn by enlisting former Chairlift member and Lil Yachty collaborator Patrick Wimberley. As guitarist Ryan Jarman explained to NME last year, “We wanted to try working with someone who specifically worked with more pop kind of people.”

There is no need to worry that this ninth album is some glossy bid for mainstream pop approval. From the opening moments of ‘Dark Luck’, the sound is immediately familiar, with Ryan’s guitar cutting through the mix in a way longtime fans will recognise instantly. What feels different is the clarity and focus running through these twelve tightly written songs, most of them hovering just over the three minute mark. The Jarmans are still tackling hard edged themes, whether it is personal principles on ‘Self Respect’ or mental strain on ‘Looking For The Wrong Guy’, but this time those ideas are delivered through melodies that feel lean, assured and purposeful.

‘You’ll Tell Me Anything’ opens with an unexpected flourish as an Italian operatic tenor delivers a line meaning “for a life lived at night”, before Ryan and bassist Gary come together on a song about letting go of the darker weight that comes with years on the road. Elsewhere, ‘Self Respect’ pushes the band into subtly new territory, pairing wiry bass work and sharp guitar lines with a sound that nods gently toward the 1980s. These moments feel fresh without being jarring, slotting naturally into a musical language the trio have been refining for decades.

Emotion runs close to the surface on ‘A Point Too Hard To Make’, with the brothers’ voices sounding frayed in the best possible way. The pairing of ‘Never The Same’ and ‘Summer Seizures’ shows another side of the album, the first carrying a jangling, Beatles influenced feel, the second slowly building into something quietly triumphant. Both tracks capture the balance the band have struck between experience and energy. On ‘Selling A Vibe’, The Cribs continue to evolve while sounding unmistakably themselves, a rare trick for any group this far into their career.