Sorry for two things:
1. not to present an intelectually detailed essay about this album (I would absolutely certainly copulate it up if I tried it in English)
2. to repeat a childish utterance I insisted on about quite some album in the past

but:
This is certainly by far the best album ever made and it will never never never be caught up with (most honest appologies to Wolf Parade and their Queen Mary, five years is a long time)

First I felt a little regret that I explored this jewel no less than four years after its release. But since just now we are preparing for the harshest winter in some 100 years (and perhaps the loss of the Gulf Stream, farewell, dear) I am glad that just now I found those 46 minutes of pure brilliance to cheer me up on heavy rotation. Thank you, Betika.
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O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, o come ye, o come ye to Be-ti-ka. Rejoice! For ‘Halflove’ is upon us, an album of beauty, intrigue, darkness and joy. Whilst on first and maybe second listens, the upbeat nature of the music may trick the listener into dismissing the songs as merely (though extremely) catchy jazz-pop sing-a-longs, there is a lyrical voyage to be discovered as the stories unfold and you dive into the deep dark ocean that is ‘Halflove’.

Lyrically there are a few recurring themes running through the album, notably the fine balance between love and lust, comedy and tragedy, animal and human, all of which are explored to great extent. Starting right at the beginning as we hear insects crackle to their death at the beginning of opener ‘You can call me brother’. Not a pleasant start, though as usual when the instrumentation starts the mood lifts and the lyrical and musical contradiction begins.

The upbeat feel is constant through the opening three tracks, riffs of wind on top of a healthy mix of drums, guitars, percussion and casios. “There is brotherly love, there is bodily love…there is quantity love, there is quality love, and I’ve got them mixed up inside” sings Dave on ‘Hatred’, delving into (his own?) human traits.

‘Love let me not hunger’ brings in a change of pace, a song beautifully sung by Carolyn, sounding like a slightly deeper, earthier Bjork. With simple harmonies and relatively stripped musically it’s message is not lost within the lyrics, and like a few on the album it’s all over too soon.

This could certainly be said of ‘Supersub’ a staccato-fast song which includes the album’s title. Like many of the lyrics on the album, the listener can clearly draw their own conclusions as to the meaning. Here “halflove” is a personal search amongst relationships, infatuation and human desire. All over in 1:40.

The quality of Betika is highlighted in the next three tracks, on ‘If you go to work on me, I’ll die’ the subject of insecurities and infatuation reappear, “You know how to stroke me like a pony, you know how to love me like a horse” followed later by “you know how to fuck me like a monkey, you know how to love me like an ape.” All sung in beautiful harmony over wonderfully brushed drums. Nice.

‘Bob Hope’ is a perfect example of Betika’s ability to mix electronica with live instruments. The simplest casio beat leads into vocals, and a thumping bass and drums. ‘By Default’ is unashamedly ‘pop’, joyous in the extreme, it ponders over the love/lust/sex quandary again. Dave, not for the first time sounding more than a little like Morrissey, this time there’s a lyrical similarity too: “I’m just a boy with a thorn in his paw.” Again there’s the contradiction of happy and sad, “A doomed romantic sings what by default is a love song.. a finger click, hand-clap sing-a-long.”

The pace goes into overdrive on ‘Dormitor’ as this time its brass riffs which hook the listener, on top of hectic drums and guitars. For the first time there’s a touch of aggression in Dave’s vocals and a little bit of Julian Cope appears. The vibe dips, and then peaks and troughs throughout ‘Twenty-five’, a wonderfully dark account of the joys of alcohol and once more, relationships. After grief leads to “puking tears out of my eyes” he is clearly suffering the effects of alcohol: “When I woke up in the morning I realised I’d died in the night.”

Last track ‘The Best Thing Ever’ starts musically downbeat, though to reverse what’s gone before, lyrically upbeat. “We will knot ourselves together, it will be the best thing ever.” Whilst this appears to be the weakest of the fourteen tracks, it winds the album down to a relatively mellow, yet joyful end with the sound of happiness clearly evident in the group vocals.

‘Halflove’ is an album to devour. Much like Belle and Sebastian it’s musical appeal is instant, heavy percussion, brass and wind instruments decorate the sound of foot-tapping happiness and fast-paced pleasure. In contrast, the lyrical content is contained within a thousand pages, and it’s a book you won’t want to put down.

Only occasionally are the stories instantly apparent, on the whole it’s left to the listener to extract whatever meaning and imagery (and there is plenty to be discovered) comes their way. Sex, love, insecurity and infatuation appear throughout, though to narrow it down to four words is ridiculous. This is an album which delves into the human psyche, has a few too many drinks whilst pondering over what it’s all about, then spews out a beautifully twisted account of it’s drunken conclusion. Fourteen simply non-skippable tracks, and about what? Just maybe: “Take the hatred from your heart and cast it out, that’s what it’s all about.”

Tony Foster-
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Bands are always better when they are passionate about music; this may seem obvious but it can be hard to find acts that hold music over recognition, hold music over fashion and image, hold music higher than the 'scene' that surrounds it. Betika are so full off passion about music their performances are often so energetic and spectacular they risk doing themselves an injury.

A long awaited debut album from the Bournemouth band sees the 8 piece very successfully getting their unique and forceful live presence onto a small metal disc. From beautiful lyrics of love to the slightly less conventional in 'By Default' with 'Wiping the sick from her lips she smiles through the bile.' and 'I should get my eyes off her tits and my hands off her hips and my lips off her lips' to the downright crude 'You know how to fuck me like a monkey' and 'mentally booking a blood test and genital test for next week' performed in exactly the same elated and beautiful way as their more conventional rhymes.

Live gigs often result in explanations from the band of their more cryptic lyrics in the between music chit chat, however, Betika seem to aim more to confuse further than explain and this adds to the magic of their music. Whether 'If you go to work on me, I'll die' really is a song about the dangers of riding your pet Alsatian to work will remain a mystery to most. And from some of the unidentifiable sounds used on the record to the lyrics that make the listener wonder 'Did I really just hear that?' the band are baffling.

A carnival of sounds live, it was going to test the 8 piece to create their magical presence in a record form but from the beautiful tunes and crashing impact as the full band's instruments join together in 'Thunderstorm' to the magnificently gentle yearnings of 'Love Let Me Not Hunger' the album is a perfectly packaged example of Betika's unique splendor. As the end of 'Girlshaped' gives an insight into the jamming celebratory drums and rattling that goes on at live gigs and the harmonious 'ooo ooo's of 'Twenty-Five' introduces the listener to the dreamful ballads of Betika the realization that the beauty of the record is that it is a perfect demonstration of their talent but that there is so much more to discover from them comes crashing onto the listener. The album is not the scraping together of all the talent they can muster but just a small slice of their immense sound.

So if you want to 'Take the hatred from your heart and cast it out.' (from track 3, Hatred), get the album irreversibly lodged in your head so that you find yourself singing 'You know how to fuck me like a monkey' in public and to listen to an album which will make even the most disheartened person joyful, get Betika's 'Half Love'.
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