If Art Brut wrote a song about forming a band on their first album, logic dictates that their second should contain a track called 'Formed a Band, Made A Hugely Successful Album, Were Harry Potter's Favourites and Have Been Pitchfork Media Darlings For the Past Year'. No? Perhaps not, then. The follow-up to 2005's Bang Bang Rock and Roll sees Eddie Argos and co. pick up where they left off, teaming similarly high-powered jangle-rock soundtracks with some of the wittiest lyrics heard from a British songwriter since Morrissey's Smithian golden days. However, where Bang Bang's aim was occasionally off-target and saw the Bournemouth quintet wander off-course now and then - no great flaw in a debut - almost every track provides a Direct Hit on its successor. From the jerky rock 'n' roll hubbub of Pump Up the Volume to the manic indie of Nag Nag Nag Nag, It's A Bit Complicated blazes a trail through its thirty-three minute duration like an OAP on their way to a bingo hall. While the scuzzy crackle and lean, art-rock riffs of songs like Blame It On the Trains and the outstanding Sound of Summer pack a powerful punch, and the rollicking pop of People In Love or the upbeat, mid-'90s-referencing Post Soothing Out decidedly diversify proceedings, it's Eddie Argos's lyrics and deadpan, Half Man Half Biscuit-half-Mark E. Smith-style delivery that elevates this album to greatness. Lines like 'Sorry if my accent's flawed / I learned my German from a seven inch record' and 'I tried to wake you with a really loud cough / I accidentally set your alarm clock off' raise smirks, while bittersweet recollections of youth, like those heard on the aforementioned Sound of Summer ('Tapes that are full of the things we can't say / To each other during the day') show Argos to be a songwriter with more depth than most realise. It's not really all that complicated; just get your mitts on this album - simple as that.
