Straight Out The Cat Litter

When Birmingham's [a]New Electrics[/a] open their mouths and harmonise, they make the rain freeze...

If an omnipotent God is watching over rock and he/she has any sense of continuity, this should sound like a baboon’s arse. Guitarist Ben is the runt of the Mitchell‘s litter. Bassist Mark is a pubescent Crispian Mills, ‘mystical’ stick-on forehead bead and all. Singer Nick, meanwhile, looks like Gaz Coombes auditioning for Gallon Drunk – all suits and sideburns. By rights they should be a spiritualist psychobilly Brit-Spock racket with worrying fascistic undertones. You heard.

But when Birmingham’s New Electrics open their mouths and harmonise, they make the rain freeze. The A&R dogs are slavering over whispers of the New Suede, but The ‘Leccies give them Glam Radiohead, Ziggy, Supergrass and a tidal wave of almighty guitars.

‘Get Together’ and debut single ‘Beautiful Smile’ set the formula: dirty drum loops dug out of Ultravox‘s shallow grave churn from below, Nick serenades us like a Cockney Thom Yorke and then devastating tornado riffs sweep in and the lads chant heartbreak harmonies as if they’re screaming from the home stand at Heaven United. At which point you’re rushed to hospital with a near fatal case of excessive dribbling. Swoon…

There are strange diodes at work here. The percussion loop on ‘Angel’, fr’instance, seems to be played entirely on a kitchen sink, while ‘World’s Away’ sends us staggering out into the snowstorm with evil [I]”la-la-la!”[/I]s echoing in our stomachs. Alien glam electrics, these, wired direct to the stars.

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