Album Review: Bis - "Systems Music For Home Defence"


So I'll be honest, it wasn't until we did a Sounds From The Junkshop column on them a year or so ago that I realised that Bis were still even active but apparently this is their third album since firing up the old Teen-C machine again a decade or so ago. The thing is, Bis were a group who went through so many different styles of music from bratty DIY punk to sleek electro-Britpop to spooked out lo-fi so guessing where this effort would fit into their sound felt a bit like throwing a dart into a board.

As it turns out though, Systems Music For Home Defence could almost be the missing link between Bis' first two albums, mixing the bouncy punk of their debut New Transistor Heroes with the more studied pop approach of its follow-up Social Dancing. Opener Lucky Night sets the tone well with its defiant message against creeps who try to schmooze up to women in nightclubs by pretending to be sensitive "new men" being backed by the sort of poppy enthusiasm that informed Bis' best early stuff mixed with  some of the more immediately tuneful songwriting that gave us tunes like Eurodisco and Action And Drama. It's almost as if the band have done a Frankenstein style assembly job using all their best bits and Headaches ups the ante formula with its irresistible "Bang bang, won't stop" refrain.

Ultimately, Systems Music... is the sound of a band having fun - I Don't Think We're Falling In Love brings back the brash confidence of prime time Duran Duran and (I Got My) Independence is one part Daphne & Celeste style cheekiness and one part early '90s dance rhythms with a message of defiance underneath. Elsewhere, although We Do Structures seems to be a humorous song title, it's got a more angular sound to it which actually works pretty well, similarly the MeToo style anger of You're Drunk Go Home. The quite lovely and sparse The Lookback meanwhile sees Bis revisiting the more stripped-down sound of their later albums like Return To Zero.

Although it doesn't quite hit the target every time, this album is at least proof that the Bis of 2022 still have plenty of energy, an ear for a good hook and something relevant to say. And that's more than enough to justify them still being around in this writer's opinion.


NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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