16.

Gomez
How We Operate

Amazingly, after so many years, I think this may be Gomez’s best ever release (though, admittedly, I don’t own them all…). How We Operate opens with a brilliant acoustic guitar motif (‘Notice’), which evokes some of their earlier work. ‘See the World’ then takes on a Dylan-esque folky journey (complete with Vedder-like vocals), but it is the third track that really changes things: the title track pulls the rug out from under us totally by offering up a spooky banjo intro (yes, that’s what I said, spooky banjo), and then explodes into a soaring chorus which somehow incorporates a wholly inappropriate guitar overlay seamlessly. Over the course of the album Gomez move from style to style with ease (‘Girlshapedlovedrug’ is purest pop, my favourite ‘Woman! Man!’ is cheesy Americana, complete with unashamed ‘sha-la-las’, and then the closing two tracks offer a much more ‘grown-up’ reflective sound). All in all, too eclectic to be a true classic, but a superb album from a band that long since indicated that they were past it.