Enormously fun, inventive, experimental, colourful pop-art-rock by the Brighton quartet of Jamie Chellar (guitar), Greg Burns (bass), James Gillingham (drums) and Leah Stanhope on vocals, bringing a cocktail of 80s pop and 00s indie through humour, mischief and clever, quirky musicality. With amusing, DIY-ethic videos, there’s a particular leaning towards wonky funk, but opener Nevagonna delays that style and surprise with a slow swirl of synths and vocals for the first minute, before building into catchy syncopation and infectious pop. Fought 4 Love has a quirky, very busy sound, an anti-love song about falling out of love (with a video based around a speed-dating party called ‘con-shag-u-lations’) and plays with a variety of 80s sounds, even echoing something of Go West’s Call Me. The humorous scream beginning This Life precedes a juddery rhythm, surf-pop, and Prince-style guitar riffs, a funk awash with stop-start sections, and there’s there’s even more hooky influences of The Purple One on Dr. Doctor, including also a sampled foghorn manipulated over a huge breakbeat. Playful also on the title, Johnny Hands goes even further down the Prince alley with sped-up vocals, crazy rhythms and swipes and dollops of synths, and Bubbles even brings in psychedelic strings. All the time Leah Stanhope lets loose with vocal flamboyance across an eccentric, high-octane, bright-colour aesthetic. Meticulously creative, chaotic, infectiously crazy, and anarchically enjoyable, whether live, or on record. Out on Bella Union.
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