UNTIL THE RIBBON BREAKS

V I S I T O R (Vero Music)

Until The Ribbon Breaks’ band name originates, it says here, from the long-lost practise of making cassette mixtapes, where the genre was irrelevant as long as you loved the songs. You’d play them repeatedly until the ribbon – the spool of tape itself – snapped. 

The compelling electronic pop sound of V I S I T O R, UTRB’s third album, is attributed to Cardiff-born frontman Pete Winfield’s newfound sobriety and a period of “renewed emotional and creative clarity.” Strange Times is suspenseful, with powerful and captivating vocals, while Human is a trippy, enlivening celebration of life – and comes with a typically cinematic, lifelike video. 

Radio Wales DJ Adam Walton recently described Winfield as “one of the most remarkable artists that Wales has produced, sonically speaking, over the last decade and a half”. He’s got my full agreement there, off the back of a thoroughly enjoyable album which is stylistically outside this reviewer’s normal zone, but strong enough for this not to matter. 

words DAVID JAMES