Beat Pyramid

‘Beat Pyramid’, their full-length debut, is the next phase in These New Puritans' hyperbolic progression. Recorded alongside Gareth Jones – the producer of albums by Einsturzende Neubauten, Liars, and Wire – its songs are an ever-mutating blur of brash chords, subtle details, and taut rhythms, borne of influences as disparate as Sonic Youth and dubstep, This Heat and Greek pottery, David Lynch and Dr. Feelgood, J Dilla and the 16th century occultist John Dee.

This is a band of extremes. The songs on ‘Beat Pyramid’ have an immediacy that belies their complex themes: 'Numbers' is a modern pop song about medieval numerology; 'Infinitytinifni' a celebration of the melting of the polar ice-caps set to one chord and three drums; 'Swords Of Truth' a deft slab of death disco named after the terrorist cell linked with the kidnap of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, that may or may not also have been written in homage to the Wu-Tang Clan.

The first (and last) thing you'll hear (bringing the alum full circle from start to end, continuous), is a strange, dislocated voice. "We started off with just this voice; this fragment of voice saying 'I Will Say This Twice, I Will Say This Twice' – that was the mystery," says Jack. "And we thought 'OK, where can we go now?' We resolved the mystery, and that's what the album is. It's not just called ‘Beat Pyramid’, it is a Beat Pyramid ."

'An early contender for debut of the year' - Clash

'A lyric about “Michael Barrymore masturbating” would be enough to kill most albums stone dead, but these four Southend 19-year-olds have such an incredible abundance of ideas that it doesn't really matter.' - Dazed & Confused

'Balancing staccato rhythms and itchy guitars with a neat line in woozy, trance-like synthesizers, they have an oblique lyrical bent that is all their own.' 4/5 - Uncut

'Sharp, strange and enchanting, there aren't many bands around like These New Puritans' 10/10 (Album of the Month) - Vice

“Superb and thought provoking” i-D

“Dispite it only being January….album of 2008” Artrocker

“Beacons in a glorious primordial murk” Mojo

“A cauldron fermenting the angularity of Kraftwerk…and the mangled imagination of Franz Kafka” NME

“Wire’s “Lowdown” having an argument about Marxist mathematics with Klaxons…what could possibly go wrong?” OMM

“There’s been a shortage of eccentric Brits attempting something unusual with rock. Enter These New Puritans” Q

“Wickedly cool” The Fly

“Unique and forward thinking” Loud and Quiet

“Frantic dance floor-friendly blasts mixing with cryptic treaties” NME

'cryptic brilliance' - Drowned in Sound