Luke Younger of Helm recently described The Buried Life as making “My Bloody Valentine sound like Shed Seven.” He’s got a point. For their second album, Medicine push in several directions: the pop songs, like “Never Click” and “Fried Awake” are sweeter, lusher; the noisier moments, like “Slut”, “She Knows Everything” or “I Hear”, are deeper, darker, more strung out. That tension makes for some exciting, uncomfortable listening, and by the noise interludes of “Emmeline” and “The Earth Is Soft And White”, their connections with English ‘power electronics’ outfit Whitehouse make sense (drummer Jim Goodall was a sometime live member).

– Jon Dale