Albums

The Lovely Eggs - If You Were Fruit

Page 05/06/2009

Rating: 4/5

Angelica are one of my most missed bands, they made amazing punky indie pop tunes, but were two or three years too early to cash in on the success of The Strokes and The Libertines and split with just a few singles and a mini album to their name. Now, Angelica's lead singer Holly is back, alongside a guy called David, in a two-piece called The Lovely Eggs. Can their debut album If You Were Fruit fill the Angelica-shaped hole in my heart?

It's a big act to follow but follow it they do. The punky indie pop is gone, The Lovely Eggs are instead a quirky lo-fi band sounding like Lancaster cousins of the New York anti-folk movement. As the band name suggests this is not a band scared of being more than a little twee, but twee-ness has never sounded this fierce. Take the track Mice for example, a song about cooking tea for mice is nothing if not twee but the ear shredding riffs that run through it, riffs that sound like they've been nicked from Slayer, make sure that this is not twee delicate indie for twee delicate indie kids. The Lovely Eggs sound is similar in style to that of Bearsuit, but unlike Bearsuit the metal moments don't feel contrived, there is no knowing nod of being difficult for difficulty's sake. Tracks like I Like Birds (But I Like Other Animals Too, Mice, O Death and forthcoming single Sexual Cowboy have more in relation to bands like Aereogramme and Scout Nibblett and the way they use heavy metal riffs amongst much softer music, although with The Lovely Eggs you get happy sounding pop songs hidden beneath the venom-dripping guitars.

When not shredding ears The Lovely Eggs craft playful anti-folk style songs - songs like Luna Café, Where's My Animal, Baulk Cushion, and Oh The Stars incorporate such instruments as glockenspiels, ukulele, bicycle bells, recorders and a squeaky horn, these songs have the same playful, experimental and at times avant-garde feel as the early work of Jeff Lewis. On the internet, hit single Have You Ever Heard A Digital Accordion? they even manage to sound like Lancaster's answer to The Moldy Peaches.

If you can listen to If You Were Fruit without a smile on your face then you may well need to see a doctor, this is a great, fun album that is never afraid to try the weird and experimental and almost never fails to hit the spot each time. It may not be everyone's cup of tea straight off but in a world of The Twang, Kasabian and The Enemy, music this brave fun and infectious deserves to be given every chance to worm its way into your heart. The greatest thing I can say about The Lovely Eggs is that John Peel would've loved them and, let's face it, if they great man would've loved them there's every chance you will too so let The Lovely Eggs soundtrack your summer and whatever the weather, your summer will never be dull or short of smiles.