Demos

The Run-Up - Pretty Story

Owain Paciuszko 01/04/2009

Rating: 3/5

Home-recorded single by South London four-piece fares reasonably well thanks to strong song-writing over muffled recording. Lead track Pretty Story is a decent pop-rock song which feels plucked from the better end of the 80s, its synths edge it towards sounding like The Killers but with far less self-importance and a more restrained approach.

Made It To Monday makes good use of their cello player Lizzie to enhance the moody, remorseful tone. On these early mixes lead singer Chris's vocals are a bit awkwardly placed in the mix, but don't do too much of a disservice to bitter-edged lyrics like 'We only stay afloat to watch each other drown.'

Final track Short Quick Summer starts off bizarrely sounding like Californication-era Red Hot Chilli Peppers, though it also sounds a bit like Nada Surf. The combination is probably unintentional, but there's a lack of energy to what should be an optimistic and bright track. It's a bit of a weak finish to a demo that holds together quite well and promises a lot from this group in the future.