Demos

Forms Forms Forms - Demo

Mike Mantin 25/07/2006

Rating: 4/5

"Pop as fuck", proudly declares the Myspace page of this New Cross band, and it's a rather refreshing sight to see a London band more interested in creating hooks and memorable tunes than fitting into a scene and inhabiting a corner of the NME. With this set of priorities and a cool indie ethos, they sound like a more memorable version of fellow Londoners The Rakes, all fast-paced rhythms and jerky riffs.

The first and most recent track on this mp3 collection (generously available for download on their Myspace page), 'Around The Corner' is the most fully-realised and demonstrates the impressive speed at which they're developing. Boasting a fantastic bassline, witty lyrics and, in the area where so many unsigned bands fall into unlistenable territory, a decent singer, this sounds like the kind of perfectly-formed song most new bands can't write until well after their debut album.

On the remaining tracks, the understandably muffled sound quality renders the lyrics near-inaudible, but the three's musical talent very much shines through. The gorgeous guitar textures on 'Sudden Endings' lend a new level of replayability to this very direct power-pop song, while 'Canon Fodder' is deliciously shouty with another classic snappy riff which is sure to become their trademark. The fast-paced 'Lessons' shows more promise but the impenetrable vocals means it needs a re-recording. But production values are, of course, hardly something to validly complain about on a demo. It is, however, hard to shake the feeling these are blueprints for classics: give this very promising band a recording studio and they could well turn out unstoppable.

Forms Forms Forms Myspace