Now three albums in to their career, Longwave have a lot to prove after two qute promising but ultimately middling efforts. Like an innocent, clean-cut version of Interpol, it would be easy to say they are a teen alternative to the New York scene. Perhaps with this in mind, 'There's A Fire' is easily Longwave's most ambitious and challenging album. The opening title track is misrepresentative - harking back to their usual easy-on-the-ear melodies - but then 'Underworld' enters the fray. The verses sway between falsetto and deep crooning before the song explodes into a grungy wordless chorus; it's a flawed effort but the ideas certainly bear fruit. Similarly, 'The Flood' makes full use of echo and manages to emulate Chicago in their mid-80s AOR pomp and surprisingly manages to stay afloat. On the flipside 'We're Not Gonna Crack' proves that they should never attempt snotty punk and there's a few too many weak FM-rock numbers. Once again they use a big-name producer - in the form of John Leckie - but they fail to make it work on a consistent basis. Moreover, if they could agree on a settled unique style of their own, the ambitions they obviously crave could become reality but surely time is running out for them.