JJ72'S eponymous debut album fixed the Dublin trio as effective angst rockers with a propensity for Joy Division-style melodies and frontman Mark Greaney's arty, but angelic tonsils falling (mostly) on the right side of the Jeff Buckley-copping hordes.
Having re-united with big name producer/mixers Flood and Alan Moulder for their soon-come second album - the pretentiously-titled "I To Sky" - much has been made of the trio's desire to scale the kind of expansive heights previously conquered by the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins and certainly 'ambitious' seems to be the key word here.
After numerous spins, though, the comparison that springs readily to mind is The Cure circa "Disintegration," and specifically the track "Pictures Of You", such are the DNA similarities in bassline and descending melody.
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Greaney has suggested that "Formulae" celebrates the minutiae of everyday life, but there's little of, say, David Gedge's attention to kitchen sink detail in JJ's floaty ethereality here.
In all honesty, there are better tracks on the forthcoming album, but "Formulae" does reach for the stars in a way akin to Lorien's surprisingly good album earlier this year so it can't be all bad.
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