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Dreamy spires and Inspector Morse, Oxford's much more than a university city, it's a musical hotbed with a habit of producing important - nay, vital - bands, capable of re-shaping genres and planting large markers in the sand. Radiohead with their illustrious career, arguably the most important band this country has seen in decades. Foals, taking intelligent, "math" pop to the masses. And now This Town Needs Guns, the darling buds of the thriving indie scene.

Since coming together some four years ago and experiencing a number of lineup changes since, the band have toured the UK a number of times with the likes of I Was A Cub Scout, Meet Me In St Louis and Rolo Tomassi, made two trips across the Channel to tour Europe and seen their music released in Japan and Australia. With the good word beginning to spread far and wide, the guys wanted to better themselves, pushing to find that perfect balance between intricate indie rock and catchy pop, inspired by the increasingly influential Chicago indie scene and some of it's occupants (past and present) such as Owls, Don Caballero, Cap n Jazz, Maps and Atlases and more.

Entering the studio in April 2008, TTNG set about recording their debut album, a collection of songs written since the release of 2007's acclaimed split EP with Cats And Cats And Cats, which featured their celebrated track, '26 Is Dancier Than 4'. Ignoring the lure of special effects and studio wizardry, 'Animals' was born. Pure, stripped down and allowing the clever songwriting to shine through for all to see, the phrase "accomplished musicians" barely scratches the surface. Tim Collis' guitar sounds as though it's being caressed by 6 hands as his brother, Chris, flings his sticks around the drum kit not wanting to leave any tiny patch un-touched. Bassist Dan Adams completes the rhythm section with his dancey, jazz influenced bass lines whilst Stuart Smith's vocals dip and soar, taking this record from thought provoking depths to sky-high triumphs.

Taking inspiration from various mammals when it came to naming their songs, the idea seemed to fit nicely for a band usually known for their tongue-twistingly long songtitles (see 'Wanna Come Back To My Room To Listen To Some Belle And Sebastian' and 'I'll Forget About You Throwing That Rock Cos That Dance Was Kinda Funny' for just two examples). 'Panda', the loveable, fluffy favourite, 'Chinchilla', the cheeky feline and the classy 'Rabbit' are but three highlights from a set simply brimming with exciting discoveries to be made.

'Animals' is released on 13th October preceded by a split 7" (featuring 'Pig') with Pennines on September 22nd and digital single 'Panda' on 6th October. This Town Needs Guns are on tour this Autumn

Animals

Cats And Cats And Cats split CD

Wanna Come Back To My Room...?

Hippy Jam Fest 7" (7" sold out)

MP3: Myspace

Video: Panda (taken from 'Animals')

Video: 26 Is Dancier Than 4 (taken from the Cats x3 split CD)


Purchase these tracks from iTunes:

www.thistownneedsguns.com
www.myspace.com/thistownneedsguns

Drowned In Sound
Forget Radiohead; Oxford is soon to be remembered as the city where this precocious young act began its rise to success.

Rock Sound
This Town Needs Guns are sneaky. They’ll have you believing they’re a semi-quiet rock band, and then out of nowhere they attack. Each song is a build-up to a full-on rock explosion. Just when you think it’s reached its loudest point they take it a step further