Already proclaimed to be one of THE debuts this year, this is where a bunch of young Mancunians end up, having been raised on equal doses of local mid-to-end’80s sounds, and even more B-bands. Put through the knob-twiddling skills of Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake, the album is set to make the radars of pop fans worldwide “beeping” in unison.
In my own case, it’s the quirkier pages of the B-section that make the extra “beeps”. Tell Your Friends is a genuine piece of twisted cockernee-pop, by way of Blossom Toes or The Small Faces, followed by the Barrett-like mood of Use Your Other Head.
Of the “usual B-suspects”, you’ll hear some Notorious-era Crosby by way of The Stone Roses in Biting Glass, a Wilsonesque good-vibe in She Sells Sea Shells, or some Young-ish Buffalo Springfield-like jazzy popsike in Chariot Song … and while we’re still at it, I Used To Work At The Zoo, might as well be a moderndaze sequel to Neil’s Don’t Let It Bring You Down.
Add to all of this, an ever present Bluntstone-like vocal fragility, and you’re as close to a perfect pop template as it gets.
[Released by Heron Recordings 2008]
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