Jamie T jumps back into the foray for Trick, with tracks ‘Tescoland’ and ‘Dragon Bones’ proving he can still capture the rawness of his first couple of LPs, while building on the tristful Carry on the Grudge.

Trick begins by launching into ‘Tinfoil boy’, perhaps his heaviest track to date, with punky riffs and biting sawtooths, Jamie T screams about the futility of life. This is followed by the electrifying ‘Drone Strike’, a mash up of classic Jamie T, hip hop and a chorus reminiscent of Muse. Later on, the stadium-filler ‘Joan of Arc’ sways along with all the pub-rocky jauntiness of the Arctic Monkey’s classics.

The final three tracks, ‘Sign of the Times’, ‘Crossfire Love’ and ‘Self Esteem’ become increasingly more cheerless, exemplifying on the melancholia of Carry on the Grudge.

And it is precisely this title that is hauntingly repeated throughout the album, particularly by a female voice who becomes increasingly distant until she fades away, repeating the mantra “maybe I’ll notice you” in ‘Self Esteem’. Perhaps this implies a significant portion of the LP is dedicated to a lost lover or to unrequited love? Or possibly, more deeply, the running theme of the album could be that Jamie T feels like he has been tricked by a life that he felt promised more.

While not particularly progressive, Trick shows Jamie T proving that he can produce an album that is morally and thematically sophisticated, but stirs up a deep urge for you and your mates to go to the nearest park and loiter, while at the business end of a 4-pack of Strongbow and working your way through a 10-pack of cigarettes.

Euan McDonnell