“A sublime debut record” Album Review: The Young Playthings - Who Invented Love?

Few bands today have the capabilities of wrestling the spiky old-school indie pop monster and coming out on top. Thank god then that The Young Playthings have arrived with a batch of battered low-slung guitars and some cavernous pop hooks to slay the beast.

‘Who Invented Love?’ is a sublime debut record. Written and recorded outside of the ominous shadow of London’s debilitating ‘scene’, it quite simple thrives under these depressurised environs. Happy to chuck any musical influences into the mix (I’m talking The Replacements, The Pipettes and, hell, even late 90’s cultsters Symposium) to create a hotchpotch of charming indie pop.

From the opener ‘Kimberly Renee’ (a song so infectious that it brings you out in a debilitating rash for days to come) right through to the dizzying closing ballad ‘Never Let you Go’, this delightful debut album never once relents in it’s pursuit of total pop perfection. It achieves its goal in absolute spades.

© The Downloader 2007