THE STRANGLERS
DARK MATTERS
COURSEGOOD
★★★★
Dark Matters opens as dramatically as you’d hope a Stranglers album would open, with a menacing drone and spaghetti western twangs, before one of their trademark swirling keyboard riffs explodes over a chugging bassline and blasts of guitar. One thing’s different, however: that organ sound is Dave Greenfield’s, but he’s no longer here, having died last year of COVID. There’s therefore a suitably subdued tribute to him in And If You Should See Dave… – essentially a virtual wake, it’s decorated by chiming bells and distinguished by one especially poignant line, “This is where your solo would go”.