Most of the time, I look for a band that make me feel like The Jesus And Mary Chain did when I first heard Psychocandy. That album in my mind is the greatest debut album of all time. The Jesus And Mary Chain is in my Top 3 bands of all time. They make you embrace the loving but brutal side of you.

I’ve never thought a band could give me that same feeling. What I get from The Kills or Metric is completely different. Completely different, it’s on a whole other level. I cannot describe. I probably could, but I’d just ramble. Pretty much like I am now.

Anyway, this year the band that have given me the same feeling The Jesus And Mary Chain release their second album. The Big Pink blew me away when I first heard them in 2009. Their debut album, A Brief History Of Love gave me the same feeling Psychocandy did. It was like an outer body experience listening to it. How someone must have felt when The Jesus And Mary Chain came out is exactly how I felt when I first heard The Big Pink.

The Big Pink has that fucking incredible reverb, distorted and dark feeling to their music. It’s the best sound you can get from a piece of music. So dark, so twisted, so honest. Your heart aches with every single listen. You heart shatters a bit every listen because you cannot get your heard around these deep lyrics.

I hold such a personal connection to the song Velvet. It’s just as if they got inside my head and wrote about all the doubt that’s floating around. The doubt is always there, and is put at ease with every single listen.

When I heard Dominoes, I wasn’t completely aware of what I was getting myself into; all I knew was that this song was quite frankly one of the best things to have occurred in 2009. “Hearts collide and smash any dreams of love.” If I had the money, I’d probably have that tattooed on me. It’s just a brutal line. It’s brutal because it is so true. When your heart hits with another, nothing happens after that. Something bad takes over, and the other person leaves you. You’ll never know why, but it happens. Don’t blame yourself kid, they weren’t worth it. “The hottest love has the coldest end.” Again, another line that is so accurate. You don’t even have to go through a break-up to get this song. Just watch people in the street or see the person you like (but you never told them) fall into the arms of another- this song will rule your heart.

Love In Vain is so stunning. Robbie’s always amazes me, but on this song it sounds so vulnerable. “If you really love him, tell me that you love him again. And go.” You haven’t really lived until you’ve had someone you like and thought liked you, then turn and say they love someone else. I say lived, what I mean is feel so small that you cast yourself away to the universe and you just don’t care. There are various kinds of freedom, this is one of them.

The entire album has mention of love and the harsh side of it. The harsh side is the side most of us can actually relate to. The wanting of a person who just doesn’t want to know, the wanting of a person who is just no good- but you’re no better because you’re a mess. We’ve all been there; we’ve all felt that way. Except you thought you were alone. You’re not, just listen to this record and you won’t be.

The title track off the album could easily be mistaken for The Jesus And Mary Chain. I guess the band is probably sick of people mentioning that, but if I was them- I’d love it. Imagine being compared to one of the greatest bands ever? I’d be so happy with that; I’d probably retire because there’s no greater compliment. It’s just such a gloriously heartbreaking album. You don’t mind that it hurts so much to listen to it because it is so beautiful. I’d compare it to allowing a beautiful person hurting you, but no person has the right to ever harm another; regardless of their beauty. You see, when a beautiful person does something to hurt you; they immediately become ugly don’t they.

The Big Pink is highly underrated. Some may say that guitar music is dead or whatever, who knows. I don’t think it is- there are many forms of “guitar” music. You have your woeful twerp with an acoustic guitar with the personality of a dead flea to the amazing sounds of The Kills, The Horrors, Warpaint etc. It’s very much alive; it just depends on where you are looking.

The Big Pink will probably blow you away with their second album. Have you heard Stay Gold? It’s bloody good. Apparently they’re taking a more Hip Hop approach to the new record. I don’t care for what direction they go in, I just love their music. Songs like Frisk on their debut album has a sort of Hip Hop feel to it, the way in which Robbie sings the verses resembles that kind of feel to it.

The Big Pink’s music is a saviour to some- it’s amazing how after one album such impact a band can have on someone’s life. Just look at what Florence And The Machine’s debut album did to The Smiths first record. An artist’s first album can do so much to a person. A Brief History Of Love is the only album to give me the same feeling Psychocandy did. I am fully aware that no other band will probably make me feel this way again, I’m okay with this. Then you have the second album which can be amazing or utter shit. I have no doubt in my mind that The Big Pink’s second album will be just as stunning and soul stealing as A Brief History Of Love.