Formed out of the rather fertile indie music of the Channel Islands in the mid 2000s Jersey originated, now London and Brighton based, The Gaa Gaas may have taken a while to release their self-titled debut album but now they have it’s a great one for fans of noisy, abstract, indie rock.

The whole thing begins with a blast of guitar band sound that throws one back to those sounds of the mid 2000s but it soon becomes clear there’s more at play than something so simple.

Opener Close Your Eyes is dripping with a punk sensibility that goes on to be laced through the whole record as it decries people who simply follow what they’re told. Statues then adds a good dose of math rock to proceedings, with not just off kilter rhythms added to the mix, but twisted synths too.

The Young Knives-ish V.O.L.T.A.I.R.E. goes back to more indie stylings but with the band’s own strong character coming through making it clear why this has long been one of their calling cards (originally released as a single back in 2010!)

Synths return in far more engagingly dirty fashion for The Type Of Mood that, along with some cracking dance beats, brings to mind Guernsey dark disco mob Gay Army, a version of whom would have been contemporaries of a The Gaa Gaas in their early days, before Hypnoti(Z)ed comes along with a sound and feel that seems custom made to get indie club dance floors going off.

The second half of the record continues along the same lines with C.U.T.S. bringing some more demented math rock noise, One Eyed Stranger throwing a saxophone into the mix for good measure and Entertainment bringing that ever present punk fizz back to the fore.

With Gavin Tate’s incessantly barked vocals being the trademark focal point of The Gaa Gaa’s sound, topping off music custom made for dark clubs on dark nights — to be honest, the kind of places the modern music world needs more off — the album is rounded off by Perception which brilliantly captures every aspect of the band in one tight package before the curiously titled Indian Giver wraps it all up with an equally enjoyable instrumental that closes the record on a wave of feedback.

It may have taken The Gaa Gaas well over a decade to get their first album ‘on tape’ but it’s no less enjoyable for it and, while it comes with a certain amount of nostalgia for me, its combination of various indie rock sounds of the past forty years makes it a great listen that should also get any indie club night going.