noWax

If you’ve not heard any Long Blondes records by now then you’ve obviously been away somewhere like…prison. We even reviewed one of the singles the other week. This Sheffield band are making quite a few waves at the moment, and they’re all new waves, boom boom. They are obviously living in 1979, and very much a Blondie 1979 rather then a Donna Summer one. Making outsider indie pop and doing really rather well, perhaps too well. “Someone To Drive Me Homeâ€? is an album that you jump around to at home on your bed with hairbrush in hand or in your local disco with your ‘oh life is so much trouble’ expression on. They have been listening to a significant amount of Smiths and New Wave bands and somehow they have crafted 11 poppy tracks together and formed a really good album.

“Lust In The Movies� has a touch of the macabre about it, and then the shouty chorus comes in and reminds you to dance around. The second track “Once And Never Again� possibly the best track on the album is a indie pop masterpiece and their most recent single. With the lyrics “Nineteen / you’re only nineteen for God’s sake / you don’t need a boyfriend� it’s clearly made for the kids in the discos. I only wish I was Nineteen and those sultry vocals could apply to me. Damn. “Heaven Help The New Girl� is the only down tempo track and slows things nicely in the middle of the album just before another smash single “Separated By Motorways� comes on. This slightly punkier track even manages to mention the A14 – how wonderfully British.

This is a really good album, just the right length, no fillers all good tunes if it suffers from anything it’s that it sounds a little too much like other things. Blondie singing The Smiths and several other late 70s British bands but then if all your reference points are really good does that matter?