We Were Promised Jetpacks

The music of We Were Promised Jetpacks embodies the band’s petulant moniker, forging the sonic equivalent of a romantic tantrum. The Scottish quartet’s sound is tender, wistful and dreamy but also a little noisy. Sweeping melodies give way to blasts of postpunk guitar. As with its Glasgow labelmate Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks could be filed under “sad bastard redux” for the way it updates Coldplay’s cinematic anguish with bursts of jagged guitar crush. Last year’s debut, These Four Walls, lingers gently like smoke in the footlights, only to swell to a clamorous denouement before shattering dramatically. Frontman Adam Thompson’s coarse brogue amplifies the torment, constricting vowels and giving consonants a hard landing. The bruising tempos and melodic grace give off a bewitching, bittersweet emotional dissonance.