We hear influences spanning Nick Cave, The Killers, and a lot of jangling post-punk. Underneath is easily their most expansive work to date, with some heavy Springsteen worship in the horns from Sarah Hellyer and its sweeping scale, with John Congleton of all people mixing! Another strength of Floodlights is their conscious political edge, although Underneath is more questioning and introspective, full of water metaphors at being caught within the sea and storms of one’s own mind but also just oblique enough to land that 90s-inspired yearning swell, with its sharpest lyrics targeting not just suburban ennui, but the peril of being caught in one’s own nostalgia and to keep optimistically living in the wake of legends past. It has even been described as Midnight Oil meets Arcade Fire!
