And here’s where things get interesting. Far from continuing to plough the same goth-punk furrow that made them, the Southend quintet have returned with an album that sounds like an entirely different band, even down to portentous vocals of Faris Badwan. Recorded with Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and film director Chris Cunningham, Primary Colours is a serious record indeed, an astoundingly successful foray into post-punk, shoegaze and a smidgen of Krautrock, with several of the best tracks heard so far this year. The knee-jerk reaction on discovering this would be to accuse them of being musical dilettantes, ready to attach themselves to whatever musical movements happen to be in vogue this week. There is some merit in that argument – it’s initially hard to swallow such an abrupt U-turn, especially from a band so widely vilified two years ago – but trust us, just listen to the album. It’s fantastic, and while the reference points jump out at you on every song, it’s no mere exercise in pastiche.

Badwan’s vocals throughout bear shades of Ian Curtis, Nick Cave and The Chameleons’ Mark Burgess; a rich croon entirely suited to the material. As for the songs, eight-minute first single ‘Sea Within A Sea’ is as ballsy as a comeback as you are likely to hear, with an insistent motorik beat that could quite easily go on forever. The Portishead connection is revealed in the way the song ends up channelling their ‘The Rip’, one of the songs of last year enriching this year’s model. Follow-up single ‘Who Can Say’ is another triumph, even managing a nod to The Shangri-Las (Badwan is a Sixties girl group connoisseur, apparently) in a spoken-word breakdown that could easily be horrific but somehow works. When the soaring synth and wailing guitars crash back in, it’s like a shot of pure adrenaline. The brooding ‘I Only Think Of You’, meanwhile, shares the lurching rhythm of The Fall’s ‘Winter’, but then that was itself nicked from ‘Weissensee’ by Neu!, so who’s counting? And all around, the reedy synths and cacophonous guitars owe more than a little to My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, most notably on the endorphin rush of ‘Do You Remember’ and the frantic ‘Three Decades’. But if you’re going to steal, you might as well steal from the best – and pull it off with aplomb.

This isn’t a perfect record – some of the inspirations are so naked as to make them off-putting – but the point is that the band have done something useful with them by writing a set of truly superb songs, and crafting an album that can stand proud beside Loveless, Psychocandy, Unknown Pleasures and the rest. It isn’t quite as good as those monoliths of popular music, of course – they got there first, for a start. But how nice it is to be proven spectacularly wrong once in a while. Chris Jones

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DOWNLOAD: ‘SEA WITHIN A SEA’, ‘WHO CAN SAY’, ‘DO YOU REMEMBER’.
FOR FANS OF: MY BLOODY VALENTINE, THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, NEU!.

New additions:

Kid Creole & The Coconuts
Dinosaur Jr
Neko Case
Dan Deacon Ensemble
Diplo
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
The Temper Trap
Buraka Som Sistema (live)
Major Lazer
The Acorn
First Aid Kit
Julie Feeney
One Day International
Fake Blood
Boy 8 Bit
The Lost Brothers

Existing bill:

Orbital
Brian Wilson
Flaming Lips
Basement Jaxx
Madness
Mgmt
Fleet Foxes
Klaxons
Bell X1
Royskopp
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Chic
Seasick Steve
2 Many Djs
Lisa Hannigan
Explosions In The Sky
Abc
Damien Dempsey
Alabama 3
Bat For Lashes
Zero 7
Amadou And Mariam
A Flock Of Seagulls
Erol Alkan
Roots Manuva
The Wailers
The Sugarhill Gang
James Murphy & Pat Mahoney Special Disco Version Dj Set
Billy Bragg
Lykke Li
Imelda May
Echo & The Bunnymen
Magazine
E.S.G
Moderat
Bell Orchestre
Simian Mobile Disco
The Field
Skream & Benga’s Magnetic Man
Noze
Heartbreak
Halfset
Chris Cunningham
Okkervil River,
Magnolia Electric Company
Low Anthem
Villagers
Tunng
Jape
Whitest Boy Alive
Micachu & The Shapes
The Walkmen
Michael Nyman
Dublin Gospel Choir
Quantic & His Combo Barbaro
Jazzanova
Fionn Regan
Mundy
Richmond Fontaine
Marina And The Diamonds
Jeffrey Lewis

We’re sitting at the halfway point of 2009, and already we are drowning in a sea of fantastic new albums - Future of the Left, Phoenix, Sonic Youth, White Denim etc etc etc. But of all the leading contenders so far for Album of the Year, none came as a bigger - or nicer - surprise than Primary Colours, the second album from Southend’s spookiest, The Horrors. We got on the phone to frontman Faris Badwan to try to make sense of the most startling comeback of the year.

Interview by Chris Jones

Hi Faris, all things well with you?
Yes, I’m just drawing a very harsh caricature of Rhys ['Spider' Webb, bass].

Is that something you do often? Is it always harsh?
[laughs] Varying degrees.

‘Sea Within A Sea’ was a big shock to a lot of people when they first heard it, because of how different it is to the first album. There’s obviously a big Krautrock influence on it, amongst other things, but had you been listening to a lot of that stuff over the last couple of years?
To be honest I think all that stuff was an influence on the last record but maybe it wasn’t as evident. We’ve always listened to all that kind of music, but I think with every record, a different set of influences should come to the forefront. But yeah, all the Neu! related bands like La Düsseldorf, Cluster and obviously all the Can stuff as well, yeah, totally brilliant.

Is that stuff you’ve been listening to for a long time?
Yeah, at the minute I’m really into that Holger Czukay album, Canaxis. I’m listening to that non-stop, it’s incredible. I actually got Tom [Cowan, synth] another Holger Czukay album, Movies, for his recent birthday. I’m into a lot of the experimental stuff as well.

Krautrock isn’t homogenous - all sorts of things get put under that bracket - but what is it about that kind of thing that you’re drawn to?
I think it’s just how free it is. It’s free but it can also be monotonous, if that makes sense. It’s a weird thing to say. I like music that feels like it has no limitations. But also that sense of melody. In Neu! 75, that whole lot of songs is so melodic. It’s maybe not something many people would associate with melody – half the singing is really flat, but it’s just perfect; it’s got so much feeling in it. I’m really interested in the way bands can be evocative without using conventional routes.

The thing about that sort of stuff is that the more you listen to it, the more it opens up. Whenever you first listen to it, the repetitive drum beat is the thing that stays with you-
Yeah, you get it suddenly, and that moment of getting it is so rewarding.

You’re saying that that sort of stuff was an influence on your first album, but it definitely comes through a lot more this time round. Do you agree?
Yeah, definitely, but on our next record there’ll be a whole load of other influences that’ll come through.

Is that something that you always intended to do - the fact that there’s a big difference in sound between the first album and this one? It seems to be such a big change as to be a big surprise for a lot of people.
It’s weird, that because it’s been two years since our last record, and in my opinion that’s a long enough time for there to have been a big change. There’s a whole load of demos that maybe people will never hear – maybe that would make the change more understandable.

I suppose journalists and your fans aren’t party to the spectrum that you’re going through between the last album and this one.
That’s the way it should be, you know. You cannot have people being aware of everything. You want the start and the end – you don’t want all the stuff in between. I think you need mystery and you need a step back. That’s why I don’t really want to release a demos album or something – it demystifies it all.

So the appeal is to come out as a fully-formed entity at two or three-year intervals, like a snapshot?
I think what tends to be the case is that bands tend to release the same album four times, and I’m just not really interested in doing that. Each release should try and break new ground.

Do you think the name of the band and the visual image that you had around the first album are part of the reason for people having response that they have? It’s had some really good reviews, but there has been a lot of shock and surprise.
I think it’s probably more people’s conceptions. The impressions they’ve got from seeing pictures of us are actually quite inaccurate. If we didn’t intend those judgements to be made in the first place, then to prove them wrong just seems to make perfect sense, if they were never accurate in the first place. But I think whatever you release there will be a set of judgements formed based on that, and I think that every release should challenge the judgements formed on the last record.

In what sense do you think they were inaccurate? People are going on promo pics, which is something that you presumably have control over.
Yeah but it’s a way of reading into them. Like, the idea we were manufactured is something that totally just don’t understand. I mean, for me, the idea that a record label would put together a band that have no chance of making any money seems laughable.

Does that rankle with you? Do you feel you were unfairly treated or dismissed?
In my opinion, I don’t mind being dismissed, because I’m not really in it for the short-term. If you’re dismissed at first glance now, it really is irrelevant, because longevity is what we’re aiming for. When people look back on things, for example listening to this record in ten years’ time, it’ll have a totally different set of things attached to it. That’s why it doesn’t matter what people think now.

Maybe the people that were a bit dismissive of you two years ago are the people that are now sitting up and taking notice.
I think that if you’re in people faces all the time, and as I said there are certain things that people want to grab onto in the media, I hate that. I don’t want to be in a magazine every week. I don’t want to see other bands in a magazine every week – you get bored of it, no matter who they are. If I saw pictures of the Velvet Underground every week I’d probably get sick of them. And I think that when you’re removed from that in a few years, when hysteria about someone has died down, like for example Depeche Mode - when that first album came out it was big and really poppy and people dismissed them as almost a kids’ band; a throwaway band. But when you look back at that record and the way it’s made and the way the instruments are used, everything about it is brilliant. And maybe at the time people were dismissive of it, but it’s really substantial music.

So it’s all about not taking it to heart and having faith in what you’re doing and that you’ll be proved right in the end?
I think you only search for validation when you’re unsure of something. If you’re really certain about what you’re doing then you don’t really mind.

Can I ask about the fact you worked with [Portishead's] Geoff Barrow on Primary Colours? How did that come about?
Well Geoff curated ATP which we played at along with Silver Apples and Sunn O))) and Thurston Moore, and we went to see them and they were amazing. That new album [Third]… Because I’d never really been into Portishead at the time.

Yeah, same here.
And when you heard that, were you converted?

Yeah, absolutely, and then I went back. Because Dummy had kind of passed me by at the time. I heard Third and absolutely loved it and then went back and got into Dummy last year.
When was Dummy from?

‘94, I think. So I would have been 11.
Oh yeah, and I would have been eight. So we were both too young at the time. But I did exactly the same thing - I went back to it and it’s so otherworldly, and for it to have been so successful as well, it kind of restores your faith in music a bit. It’s pretty unconventional, and it’s got all these little ideas, like pressing the album onto acetate and then re-recording it - stuff like that. It was so innovative and there weren’t too many people doing that. So when we heard Third, we felt he could bring Portishead to The Horrors. In the end, that wasn’t what actually happened – he insisted that we remain The Horrors and basically just tried to capture our demos. He recorded us really, rather than produced.

Although, you can tell the influence of it on Primary Colours.
Yeah we were influenced by them, but the songs were written before he came on board.

Did you see the Spotify playlist that The Quietus put up on their website?
What was that?

They did an article on their website and made a playlist on Spotify with a whole load of bands that they thought had influenced your new album.
What bands were on it?

It included Neu!, Can, a song off 154 by Wire - do you know that album?
Yeah, I love that album.

…Kitchens of Distinction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Spiritualized, the Velvet Underground…
Kitchens of Distinction?! That’s a weird one to choose. I mean, it’s a brilliant one to choose, but I’m surprised. I’m not surprised they know about it, but you know how everyone’s always saying the same influences.

…The Psychedelic Furs, the Jesus and Mary Chain, ‘NYC’ by Interpol and a few others. Do you think that was accurate?
Erm…yeah. I suppose so, but there’s loads of influences they missed, like the Kinks and the Pretty Things. I dunno, they got most of the main ones, but everyone hears different things.

PRIMARY COLOURS IS OUT NOW ON XL RECORDS

Speaking to AU ahead of the tour, ASIWYFA guitarist Tony Wright said he was looking forward to visiting Tralee for the first time. “We can have the Thorn of Tralee and just get the most wild looking person we can,” he joked. “It’ll be me. Or, actually, it’ll be Mick from Adebisi. It’ll definitely be a ginger anyway.” The tour moves on to Dublin tomorrow (July 3), then Cork (July 4), Limerick (July 5), Derry (July 9), and finally Belfast on July 10. Check the Gig Guide for full details.

On the entertainment front, they are spot-on, with Adebisi Shank (pictured), ASIWYFA, Not Squares, Six Star aHotel, Panama Kings, Lowly Knights and Kinnego Flux all slated to appear. There’s also a significant non-musical element as well, with art exhibitions, workshops, talks and assorted other mind-expanding attractions. Tickets are priced at £25 for the weekend (including camping) - visit www.forfeyfestival.co.uk for more info. The full line-up is below.

Music:

Adebisi Shank
Not Squares
Six Star Hotel
Lowly Knights
David McNair
Sully (DJ)
Mojo Fury
Good Fight (Acoustic)
Kinnego Flux
Mel Wiggins
ASIWYFA
The Bad Operator (DJ)
Napoleon
Cardigan Drive
Push Borders (Acoustic)
Filaria
Grand Pocket Orchestra
The Continuous Battle of Order
Panama Kings
Kowalski (DJ)
Maguire & I
Jamie Woon
Crooksy’s Guilty Pleasures (DJ)

Workshops, Panels & Interactive Arts

WindsorFilm Club
Tea & Politics - Performance/Interactive
Fries & Fairytales
Ballet Workshop
Art Workshop - Knit!
Reason Masterclass
Actors for Human Rights
Short & Sweet Film Festival
Take Stock - Movements across UK & Ireland

Visual Art Exhibitions with:

Amy Millar & Kathryn Thompson
Emma Hopley
Neil Gillespie
Colette Mc Hugh
Rachel Gardiner
Natalie Bell
Richard Torrens
Steph Newell & Hamja Ahsan
Joy McCann
Dianne Minford
Shelley Garrett

We love BATS. Ever since seeing them support Chrome Hoof in Dublin last year, we’ve been borderline obsessed with them - their EP Cruel Sea Scientist completely slays and their live shows were getting better and better. But then, towards the end of last year, the prog-post-punk-metal quintet from Dublin jetted off to the States to record their debut album with Kurt Ballou from Converge, and not a peep have we heard since.

UNTIL NOW! Alright, alright, there’s not a lot here to get your knickers in a twist about just yet, but the news is good. First off, the album is called Red In Tooth And Claw (typically awesome) and it’s apparently coming out on Richter Collective on August 31, with a launch gig on the 29th at Andrew’s Lane Theatre in Dublin with Adebisi Shank (who will give them a run for their money) and Jogging. And if you click on the wee video below, you will get a very, very (actually ludicrously) brief and pretty hilarious taster of what you can expect. Is it okay to laugh at crying children?

BATS ‘Red In Tooth & Claw’ Promo from Rupert Morris on Vimeo.

…another twee, classically hewn, Sixties-esque introspective epic, fully decked out in horn rimmed spectacles and cardigan? Surely NO-ONE in the world needs a Belle & Sebastian side-project that sounds the same as Belle & Sebastian? Have we not suffered enough? But what if this really is a leap forward? Jettisoning the preciousness of the day job, Murdoch has drawn upon a richly textured cinematic vein of inspiration, conjuring images of Truffaut and Scott Walker, rain sliding down the window of the train as it pulls away from your heart’s desire. He’s not really breaking any new ground here, but he’s doing it in such a skilled way, that it causes you to look at the last few B&S albums, and wonder why he’s been sitting on this project for so long. It won’t win him any new fans, but it is a delicious treat of an album, one that may endure longer than some of the work he’s best known for. Steven Rainey

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DOWNLOAD: ‘GOD HELP THE GIRL’, ‘PERFECTION AS A HIPSTER’.
FOR FANS OF: BLACK AND WHITE FRENCH CINEMA, TENDER KISSES IN THE RAIN, BITTERSWEET ENDINGS.

Next month, Jackson was due to embark on a 50-date residency at London’s O2 Arena. However, he had suffered ill health and had not completed a live show in 12 years. RIP.