Demos

Jack Rabbit - EP

Owain Paciuszko 16/01/2011

Rating: 3/5

S.H.E.L.L.E.Y's guttural burps of the name 'Shelley' sound like a surreal Muppets sketch before turning into a up-tempo ska pop number with gypsy-style strings, it's an interesting amalgamam that saunters along nicely. There's similar cartoon-like squawks on They Took Him Away which, with its Squeeze-like vocal delivery, is a pretty decent, retro sounding ballad with a toe-tapping syncopated beat. On its choruses of 'Oh, they took him away' the track gets pleasingly close to Ernold Same-era Blur, capturing a romantic wistful mundanity excellently.

Lively pop tune Shout It Out manages to sounds like a strange mash-up of The Monkees and Reel Big Fish but with an Arctic Monkeys accent, with its posturingly delightful guitar solo its got a certain nostalgic charm, if overall sounding a bit too twee to really make an impact beyond a bit of skanking. Final track The Horror Show has the lowly despondency of Madness on its glib verses, whilst the choruses transform into the indie-pop traits of The Bluetones, this kind of pleasant alliance is indicative of this band's strengths which lie in marrying fun, pop styles to an entertaining effect. At this stage the production is a bit fluffy, but they've got some good ideas and they execute them effectively enough to make sure you'll come back to see how they're evolving.