THERE’S NOTHING LIKE IT AROUND HERE…

This Brighton give-piece art-rock have every utensil to have the smack of Talking Heads: agitated synth-warbles, busy guitar spunkings and enough witty charm to turn and notice whenever they enter the (small) room. It’s mighty fresh and it’s mighty fun. It’s no less than what we’ve been looking for as they ultimately take the mantel up from those alternative groups of Talking Heads and DEVO. Without a doubt, it’s a bold claim – but it can certainly be backed up with their recent 5-track release.

You could even argue that it fits the very genre that splurged out of punk in the ’70s, as it seems that that glitchy ‘crank wave’ is making a definitive comeback.

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We’re met with first contender, The Ball – a funky reprise of synths, tetchy hi-hat quivers and triumphant guitar glow-ups perhaps conveying a thought to society as we see it and maybe we’ve all just dropped the ball. What follows is a far leisurely stroll with Benign Fire in a Small Room, a flourishing of bass drabs, coarse synth lines and a passive gentlemen accepting his ill-fate as it conjures up the very definition of “The Pills Are Working” – “I’m on fire, In this burning room / Oh yes I’m on fire but, I think it will go out soon.”

Songs pent up with bouncy and unpredictable energy, they are laced lyrically offering a sense of catharsis for the confusion of modern adult life. A Definitive Guide to Easy Living offers a glazing commentary on the seediness of our park benches and bus stops to the homeless, “let’s put a little / Armrest in the middle / So that we can limit all the types of people sitting in it…” to highly explosive and irresistibility addictive Free Parking, a taste of idiocy when it comes to city congestions and simply finding spaces to park. While Won’t Stop The Wheel – the only song on the EP that was not released beforehand as a single – is an up-beat narrative on the everyday grind of life – can’t stop the propellers from twirling – an arty exposé lit up with synth swells and funky guitar flecks ending a rather fun EP; unparalleled to its competition.