REVIEW: really big really clever - ...huh

If really big really clever are scared of falling victim to the sophomore slump, they do well not to show it. Two years after their self-titled debut album, the Brighton four-piece are back to deliver ...huh, a more mature and developed set of tracks that seek to set them apart from the noise of the British alt-rock scene.

It’s a scene that they have made themselves well acquainted with since the band’s inception in 2023. In between their own headline shows, they have found themselves supporting American emo stars Sweet Pill on their UK tour, as well as fellow Brighton-based band Gaffa Tape Sandy, quickly becoming known for their electric live performances.

That energy is very much present throughout ...huh. There isn’t a minute that passes without a killer riff, or a drum fill that makes you wish you were in a hot room dancing with strangers. Lead single ‘floss is boss’ is the perfect example, pairing beefy power chords with a sing-along hook. ‘pitiful’ copies that recipe, whilst still managing to squeeze in a breakdown that would be enough to send a willing audience into overdrive.

Whilst the more frantic offerings on ...huh glimmer with promise, the real gems can be found elsewhere on the album. ‘the middle’ is easily the star of the show, trading the band’s grungier sound for something a bit more streamlined and straight-forward. The riff promises to make a home in your brain, and once you start singing along to the chorus there’s no turning back. It’s cut-and-dried pop punk perfection.

On the polar opposite side of the scale is ‘i was an idiot’, a weird little track that shimmers and bursts in under 90 seconds, packed full of grungy riffs and trippy guitar tones that will make you triple check that you haven’t been abducted by aliens. There’s no polish to be found here, and it’s glorious.

Whilst this approach works on ‘i was an idiot’, the same cannot be said for every track. ‘dread’ is the most frustrating example of this. It’s almost perfect; the alternating spotlight on the guitar riff and the bass line in the first verse is magical, bouncing between the two like a tennis ball, however this disappears by the second verse. The vocals near the end of the track are the harshest we see on the album, and it offsets the grooves in the rest of the track masterfully. But this feels like a half-baked idea nestled at the end of a track, whilst the vocals for the rest of the track struggle to be heard in the mix. With a bit more polish, this could have been a standout on the album.

The disappointment is short-lived, though. Album closer ‘back and forth’ showcases another side to the band; a five-minute wall of sound that switches pop-punk for a mixture of time signatures in a metallic, shoegaze-y haze. It’s heavy and hard, but it wouldn’t be a really big really clever track without melody after melody, and a stellar performance on the drums. It’s the type of track that underlines the band’s talent, and forces you to hit repeat on the whole album to make sure you didn’t imagine the whole thing.

All in all, ...huh is living, breathing, flailing proof that rock and roll isn’t dead. It’s an amalgamation of influences from seemingly every corner of the broad and beautiful alternative music landscape, and it hits it out of the park many more times than it misses. It’s loud, and brash, and as pristine as it is messy. And a whole, giant heap of fun.

Score: 8/10

...huh will be released on August 22nd via Sugar-Free Records.

Words: Ellen Lovell

Photos: really big really clever