White Lies

White Lies

BIG TV

 most evenings lights out, tucked up in monk robes surveying every last bit of Joy Division on file - having engaged with the moody post-punk of the London trio's first two records - it may come as a surprise that their third album started off as a practical joke. Big TV, see, was at first a goof on their keyboard player's diva demands for what goes on their rider… you probably had to be there.

What came later, however, was a more intriguing observation of man's obsession with materialism - best expressed in the title track when singer Harry McVeigh howls of moving to the concrete jungle: "I can't work for free, I've got a room downtown with a bed and a big TV." It's a well-loaded point struck home with sweeping keys and a swirling, U2-like riff; they mean business. The bright-and-shiny sound continues into 'There Goes Our Love Again' - the real story of two lovers on the edge of everything and nothing, and the band's finest work to date.