Singles

Make Model - The LSB

Tom Blackburn 04/04/2008

Rating: 4/5

“All men have secrets and here is mine,” Morrissey once sang. To be honest, I never had much sympathy for the moaning old sod until now. Here's my own secret: I'm a sucker for the shiny, overproduced pop of early 90s pop outfit Deacon Blue.

You might be wondering how this is relevant, and that's a reasonable concern. But here's how: Glaswegian sextet Make Model, on the evidence of this particular single, share my shameful fetish. And you know what? It's just as well, because The LSB is quite comfortably one of the finest pop tunes of the year so far.

Described as 'a bunch of genius folk bastards' and comprised of former members of Dance Lazarus Dance and the sadly-departed Fickle Public, the band have been on the receiving end of a fair few Broken Social Scene comparisons but they're hard to justify here - where the Canadians drift into woozy prog, Make Model craft focused, sunny pop that provides an instant (yet substantial) sugar rush.

An instantly infectious slice of sugary, melodic pop, the song's sheer joy and energy traps the listener in its vice-like grip and steadfastly refuses to let go. But simmering beneath the chirpy exterior, growling guitars and tense boy-girl call-and-response vocal duelling sound as if those responsible are in gripped by furious fervour.

They could well be primed for big things in the coming months, and with more songs of this calibre it would surely take the most miserable churl to deny Make Model a wider audience. Well worth investigating.