Album review: Engineers - 'Three Fact Fader'

As unlikely as it sounds, hardy northwesterners Engineers are cut from the same cloth as east London fashionistas The Horrors. Both have used an enforced hiatus to rebuild their sound, taking succour from Krautrock and shoegaze only to turn in unexpectedly superb albums. And if ‘Primary Colours’ is the night out, then ‘Three Fact Fader’ – Engineers’ follow-up to their 2005 debut – is the sound of the blissful recovery next day. It is bookended by two of the best songs you will hear all year: ‘Clean Coloured Wire’ is built around a sample of the kosmische synth refrain of ‘Watussi’ by cult German trio Harmonia while ‘What Pushed Us Together’ comes on like Animal Collective with Phil Spector at the controls.

John Doran

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8 out of 10