Topshelf Records 11th March 2016
Some great wee tunes here, buried in splashing cymbals, what sounds like a double-drum assault, fuzzed guitarish keyboard melodies and tumbling chimes. There is a thrashy lo-fi air here that adds an air of rock and roll spirit. It might be an electric piano but it’s getting badly mistreated. It’s not a new idea to pile fuzz onto sweet and simple melodies – The Jesus and Mary Chain and Teenage Fan Club made careers out of it – but it never grows old. Sweetness and gritty simplicity.
It’s not their first album, though the band have been laying low since 2012. Experience shows, and I can imagine almost what this band would be like live and it wouldn’t be so very different to this, thanks to the now well established two-member line-up. Yup, this is a two-piece. We used to call them duos, now we call them bands. And this is an excellent one, consisting of electric keyboard, femal vocals and drums. The best of both worlds is here; catchy indie pop, played in the grimily authentic milieu of distorted rock.
The album is excellently paced, moving over nine tracks through thrashing rock, power ballads and slower numbers, exercising Carly Comando’s voice and Tom Patterson’s biceps until the lovely floaty love song that closes the set. I can just hear those drums already, punching the air in a sweaty venue near me. C’mon, make it happen.