With one foot rooted in 80's alt rock and the other firmly in late 60's garage, Shin Jin Rui make a gloriously epic racket at times. They also have Libertine-esque side to them, ably demonstrated by "Hollywood Listens" with its nod to “What Became Of The Likely Lads” and aren't averse to the occasional burst of Sonic Youth style dissonance as well. 

At its best "Zutiqua" takes these myriad influences and forges something interesting and different out of them. Take "Temporary" or "Dirty Bomb" as examples, the former could almost have been a Joy Division b-side and the latter takes the riff from "Do It Clean" by Echo & The Bunnymen and the rhythm from The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night" and warps it into something compelling and new. 

At its worst however "Zutiqua" shows that Shin Jin Rui may need to rein in their experimental flourishes a little at times. "The Queens Complaint" tries to shoehorn a dissonant breakdown into a slower tempo strum-along and the result sounds forced and contrived. This is but rare blight though and is immediately followed by the urgent "What Is Evil?" which has all the qualities of a bona fide alt-rock classic, in a similar vein to The Pixies circa “Wave Of Mutilation”. 

For a relatively young band to embrace all of these influences and produce such a diverse, yet engaging, debut record is quite remarkable and, despite the fact it falters on occasion, is a great set of songs by an exciting new band not afraid to take a risk or two.  Recommended

John Lewins