The elongated growl of an amplifier at the start of their debut album echoes the expectant buzz that followed Tribes throughout 2011. Their dirty fingernailed rock’n’roll swagger has always been cocksure, and here, finally, is an album to back it up. ‘Whenever’ is sweaty, ‘Sappho’ is insatiable, centrepiece ‘We Were Children’ is (if you’re the right age) life-affirming. But we knew that. ‘Nightdriving’ and ‘Himalaya’ show Tribes can do gentle tear-jerking too. Ecstatic, raucous, spine-tingling and delivered in the only way they know, ‘Baby’ is a piece of Tribes for their devoted followers to hold onto – they’ll treasure it.
