‘Business As Usual’ — The LaFontaines — Album review

‘Unique, bold and Scottish’ might be how The LaFontaines would summarise their fourth studio album*, but I’d fervently call ‘Business As Usual’ short, sweet and stellar. 15 years after forming in Motherwell and subsequent to a short hiatus, the trio are back with perhaps their most exciting, albeit long-awaited, record yet…

After interviewing Kerr and Jamie just the other day, I learned that the three-piece were at full-time level when their third album, ‘Junior’, had come out in 2019. It had placed 33rd in the Top 40 Charts, but the elation was spoiled by COVID grinding successful their music-making and touring to a halt. So while it was incredible for me to read they were returning, it was a semi-unbelievable reality for the lads, too.

I first heard The LaFontaines when Spotify Radio delivered me ‘Common Problem’, after playing a few Deaf Havana tracks, in 2017. And as they were the first band I saw live after moving to Leeds, they have really ameliorative, chapter-starting connotations for me. So, if somebody had said in late 2023 that they were set to become a household name again, I wouldn’t have believed a comeback was on the cards. But I’d have been bloody excited by the notion. That euphoria instead slapped me right around the ears on 29th February, mere days after I’d turned 30, when ‘Business As Usual’, the title track and take-home message from the band, came out. It was an anthemic assertion that they were back, doing what they do best. And, as frontman Kerr put it himself, “This record is far from a farewell; it’s a resolute declaration that it’s ‘Business As Usual’”*.

The track opens proceedings and the singles all come first, like familiar palate-cleansers ahead of the sweetie jar of brand-new material. As I write this, ‘Since You Made A Move’ is lodged in my head. It’s an old-school, disco-pop groove that’ll be possibly the funkiest, most festival-ready, feel-good banger of the summer. So if you don’t spring to your feet for a boogie, press stop and start it again. The dance/house sensibilities of ‘Where They Know My Name’ simply enhance the joy from the prior track.

Enjoying the immaculate vibes? ‘Good Life’ is a continuation of the styles we’ve been gifted so far; nice and catchy, and certainly worth rinsing on repeat. The very poppy ‘Unconditional’ leans towards those Ibiza-beach-club keys — you know, the sort that soundtrack sundowners.

I find myself planted in my seat for this next one, as the dirtier, grungier tones (akin to many of their OG tracks) on ‘Keep Me On The Outside’ are massive. I’m enthralled, once again, but by entirely different musical nuances. It’s exactly as Kerr noted in our interview regarding genre-crossing — they’re managing to ply this piece with much rockier hallmarks. Driving drums, scuzzy riffs, a playful hook, and a deeper bassline? I’m sold. Talk about a rumble of something hell-raising.

An uncharacteristic skit in the middle breaks things up (they are podcasters now, after all), before another drum-led belter blazes in. ‘Any Day Now’ possesses steady beats on its verses, with almost enraptured, uptempo choruses. Quite the contrast. Of course, the rhymes and lyrics are on point throughout as always — from the reflective and articulate to the tongue in cheek.

Into slower rap? Make a beeline for introspective ‘July 11th’, punctuated by ethereal female vocals sewn into the background. Then, ironically, the final track, ‘Overstayed My Welcome’, is the polar opposite to what I feel this band have done. They’ve served us a solid helping of Fonts at their most fabulous, in the brightest bid to remind us how epic they are — and that they’re actually here to stay put.

If you only download one track, let it be: ‘Keep Me On The Outside’ (though the whole bloody lot is magnificent)