Kasabian have always had an electronic element to their sounds, but their tongue-twisting third album showcases this part of their sound, with one track being described as sounding like 'Daft Punk and The Clash together'. The album is also more psychedelic than previous efforts, mirroring close friends and touring partners Oasis' most recent record, Dig Out Your Soul. Produced by American hip-hop producer Dan The Automatic, who is best known for his work on the Gorillaz' first album.

Mar 2009

Leicester's finest return this summer with their third studio album, 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum', an album by a band at the peak of their powers – a 12-track masterpiece.

Written by Serge Pizzorno and co-produced by Serge and Dan the Automator (Gorillaz, DJ Shadow), 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' was recorded in Kasabian's hometown of Leicester and Dan the Automator's recording studio in San Francisco.

'WRPLA' is a mash-up of towering melodies, electro-punk riffs and psychedelic lullabies, fused with Tom Meighan's searing vocals, Serge Pizzorno's bar-raising musical vision, Chris Edwards' driving basslines and Ian Matthews' galloping drums.

"It's about people escaping somewhere else. It's a place of opposites, where paupers can become princes. The way things are at the moment, it seems like a good place to be," concludes Serge.

Harking back to the late 60s with their 'Stones-inspired' sleeve design, the band have dressed up as Napoleon and a priest, among other costumes, for the cover of the new album. "Well, it's the fancy dress in the asylum, we're sort of getting ready to go to the end-of-year ball or the work do at the asylum," says guitarist Sergio Pizzorno. "Ideas of grandeur, y'know, when kings go mad, power gets to them and they see themselves as other things...Tom's Napoleon and i'm a sort of Butcher Priest. Ian is a sort of mad pagan monster of sorts and Chris is a little pauper sort of losing his mind eating light bulbs, reading mad literature. It's great, you can't take your eyes off it and it'll f*** people off." Frontman Tom Meighan added that the sleeve had been inspired by The Rolling Stones' album 'Their Satanic Majesties Request'. "We wanted to do, like you know the Stones dressed up as wizards, and all that kind of shit," he explained. "You see these psychedelic bands dressed up as kings and stuff, so that was the take on it."

• The Guardian - "Trademark Kasabian industrial-sized anthems now come with more pulverising bass riffs and more melodic choruses"
  The Fly (06/09 p.38) - "Kasabian's knack of blending classic sounds with futureproof samples is fantastic and when they're on form - as here - they're peerlessly irresistible"
  Spin (p.91) - "Twitchy, action-movie atmospherics still galvanize the thrust of 'Fast Fuse' and lead single 'Vlad the Impaler.'"
  Daily Telegraph - "...'West Ryder Silver Bullet and 'Thick As Thieves' display the band's flair for melody and powerful, uncluttered song craft"

Kasabian: Tom Meighan, Sergio Pizzorno (vocals); Chris Edwards (bass guitar); Ian Matthews (drums).
Personnel: Tim Carter (guitar, keyboard, percussion); Dan The Automator (programming).
Audio Mixers: Dan The Automator; Marc Senesac.
Audio Remasterer: Howie Weinberg.
Recording information: Lookout Studios, San Francisco.
Cinematic and moody, celebratory and hedonistic, the Leicester-based band's third full-length album touches many bases, from lurching, Vaudevillian dramatics ("Thick as Thieves") to emotive, Stones-y ballads ("Happiness," "Ladies and Gentlemen Roll the Dice") to Madchester-derived disco-punk workouts (first single "Vlad the Impaler," "Fire," "Underdog"). But the stand-out may be the previously released garage-raver "Fast Fuse," which takes a straight-ahead rocking approach and shows off guitarist Sergio Pizzorno's terse but effective riffing.

Formed in Leicester, England, in the late 1990s, dance-rock quartet Kasabian hit big with their self-titled debut in 2004. Bearing the marked influence of "baggy" superstars the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays, Kasabian set themselves apart from many of their neo-post-punk contemporaries with a potent blend of dancefloor rhythms, electronics, and rock 'n' roll swagger. In 2006 they released their second album, EMPIRE, which revealed a more straightforward, classic rock sound.