This could be
another short review. The Lovely Wars EP is quite simply brilliant. End of. But
as I always have to remind myself when writing for Blogs, we can’t do short, we
have a responsibility to string words together in a Paul Morley style and
waffle on incoherently and spout pop theories.
So let’s go
track by track and spout theories. ‘Let’s
blow the whole thing up’ is a punky bass rumble which has everything in it
from Darling Buds, Transvision Vamp, Daisy Chainsaw right through to the pure
pop sensibilities of the Godess that is Deborah Harry. The backing vocal “ahhh’s”
! give it sweet while the rumble of the bass kick ass so hard yer ass don’t
touch the ground.
The chorus
has Ani Saunders seducing, her vocals are quite stunning, she can yelp and play
with her voice but she’s like a punk rock John McEnroe, bang on the ball (as in
musical notes) she really is a gem of a vocalist as yet totally undiscovered,
to borrow a Sunday Times quote about the Pistols back in the day – “Unseen,
unheard but on top”. Saunders will be on top soon enough.
This song
hits from the first note. It’s an instant hit. End of. But it’s also a grower,
in the sense with consecutive plays it actually gets better. Lovely Wars
accomplish the impossible. Perfect pop.
‘Oh it’s a lovely war’ takes us downtown to a downtown “Kerdiff”
discotheque. Saunders directs via a megaphone, the synth takes us on a 12 bar
disco groove. The beat just forces anyone from sober to totally pissed to sway.
With a bit of imagination this is something that you would have expected in the
unfilmed and unscripted disco scenes in ‘Twin Town’ where the brothers Ifans
give it some dancefloor action while Huw Ceredig does his thing. It’s that kind
of track. Filmic. A call to arms to the tacky dancefloor of a Swansea night
club with horrible 70’s lights and round disco balls.
We get a hint
of the anthemic on ‘Through the darkness’
this is the Lovely Wars creating a
better tune than ‘Little Baby Nothing’, remember beautiful lipstick traces
Tracy Lords in bed with the Manics. Again why waste words when BRILLIANT will
suffice. It is brilliant, totally brilliant and really does send shivers down
in all sorts of directions. Not so much punky as synthy but actually the Manics
could cover this and you would not notice.
Which brings
us on to ‘Young Love’ which starts
with something akin to Squeeze’s Cool for Cats, it’s that bassline, as Ani
Saunders lead us on, and leads us towards a street corner where Blondie, Pet
Shop Boys, Soft Cell and Dusty Springfield come at you from all directions,
from different speakers in a true melting pot. It’s Doris Day for 2013 (and
that’s a compliment). Simply put, if you are young enough to fall in love
(again) or for the first time – then do it to this song.
What a
brilliant, brilliant EP. What a cool band. There is culture in Cardiff. This is
better than you realise ………..
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