There's certainly plenty of jangle, with guitars that are clean, bright, and melodic, often playing off one another. It brings to mind the British guitar pop of the ’80s and early ’90s. But the band cites everything from Yes, Pink Floyd, and Can to Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead, and DIIV among its influences. You can hear pieces of these influences, but the band is definitely doing their own thing. As guitarist and lead singer Evans puts it, the moment you deliberately try to copy somebody else, “you’re stuffed.”
What I like about In Purgatory is the contrast between how the album sounds and what Evans is actually writing about. These are wonderfully melodic songs, sometimes bright and almost uplifting, while the lyrics deal with depression, death, breakups, loneliness, and feeling stuck somewhere between where you have been and wherever you are going next. The band says there isn't a single theme running through the album, but describes life at its worst as feeling like you're “swimming in a pool of vinegar,” something Evans sings about on “Vinegar Swimming Pool.”
Fortunately, World News aren't particularly interested in wallowing in any of it. There is a wonderfully British sense of humor running through the album. On the title track, Evans finds himself stuck in purgatory, unable to get too close to either heaven or hell, only to realize that this strange middle ground apparently doesn't serve booze.
Humor aside, it's the guitars that roped me into this album. At different points, they bring to mind Johnny Marr, Mark Knopfler, shoegaze, post punk, and some of the great British guitar bands of the past forty years. World News may be singing about being stuck somewhere between heaven and hell, but musically they seem to know exactly where they're going. In Purgatory is a fantastic debut album.
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