All the hard work that the Beautiful Girls have done since they released their debut album, Learn Yourself, has finally paid off. Building their profile off the back of touring, touring, and more touring, they’ve taken themselves from indie darlings to mainstream success story in the process.

Now the Beautiful Girls’ second album has become the first taster from the record company they’ve set up that will sign other acts as well as release their own material; they’ve got their very own cottage industry. That officially makes the Beautiful Girls ‘a big deal’.

We’re Already Gone is imbued with the spirit of Kerouac – of the ten songs featured here, at least four feature direct allusions to their time on the road, with “Let’s Take the Long Way Home” and “When I Had You With Me” the most literal in that sense. Where Learn Yourself skipped styles and jumped around musically, We’re Already Gone is far more focussed. It’s most noticeable in the locked-in grooves that power the title cut, and the reggae touches that made “Blackbird” such a radio fave can be found once more in songs like “The Biggest Lie I Ever Told” and “Shot Down”.

“The Wrong Side of Town” has a dark edge to it not found on their previous work, complete with horns section, but rather than cramming We’re Already Gone with an excess of ideas, the Beautiful Girls have instead given the songs a very live feel, with the occasional extra layer of instrumentation adding colour and warmth rather than dominating the mix.