Hard Life [LP]

The Tubs - Hard Life [LP]

The Tubs have never lacked for ambition, and on Hard Life, theirs is to complicate the Tub-ullar experience. Having perfected their chemistry across two prior albums and hundreds of shows, the London-based Celtic jangle boyband push themselves further into the shimmering heart of virtuosic indie rock, joined by fiddle player Chris Haigh, whose playing shades vocalist Owen Williams's rueful croon like a bruise.

On Hard Life, two personas argue, pester one another, merge into each other, and break apart, sometimes over the course of a single song - two sides of the same coin, emerging from grief, disappointment, and regret as changed men. "But mostly they're just pop songs," Williams says. Exquisite, irresistible pop songs.