“Blasting their way to glory with the most poetic of punk sentiments” Album Review: The Young Playthings - Who Invented Love?

Ever wondered how Green Day would sound if they wandered into indiepop territory and embraced its broken hearts and tainted glamour to magic, lo-fi effect? Well, here we have The Young Playthings. Oxford rebels brought up on a healthy diet of lust, love and loss, their songs shimmer with 60's girl group flourishes and Beach Boys-esque overlapping melodies that tend to leave me looking over my shoulder slightly while tagging along in free emotional abandon.

The whole of this Who Invented Love? set is pretty mighty, but pushed for a couple of stand-outs, from the more raucous end I’d go for 'Hot Sex With A Girl I Love', a fine idea if I’ve ever I’ve heard one and a song that jumps out like a dizzy blast from suburban gutters, while from the sentimental side it’d be 'So good, So Bad… So Good!', which burns the slow burn of hot nights with pristine lovers and doubting hearts, or maybe 'Just a Fool', with its killer lines of “I’m just a fool who loves you” in amongst the tricklingly poignant balladry. Who Invented Love? really is a two-paced charmer in the old-fashioned punk sense, just dancing with a little wonder that seems to hold the world within. Blasting their way to glory with the most poetic of punk sentiments, the Playthings are what you need to be shaking to right now.

© Miwsig 2007