“Modest Mouse meets Pavement meets Television...”

This Canterbury formed band have made a demo of seven-tracks and over 35 minutes long, and to be honest, it's better then most of the albums I've bought in the past year.  Musically, think Modest Mouse meets Pavement meets Television meets Bruce Springsteen and The Shadows.

As popular music seems to be becoming increasingly regressive, this logic makes The Young Playthings, effectively, the future. The songs initially seem incredibly simple, three chord Rock'n'Roll singalongs of great pop beauty, reminiscent of the Rock and Roll and Soul Music of the 50's. The songs are really danceable as well, shuffle beats scatter throughout the songs as arpeggiated guitar parts create melodic layers. The more it's listened to, the complexity of the music becomes clear, rhythms change with subtlety, the songs have various parts that blend and intertwine together but never lose impact.

The second song 'Hot Sex [With A Girl I Love]' takes the title for me; duelling rockabilly guitar solos and whilst the lyrical content needs no further discussion, the melodies are pure pop.

As you probably [can] tell, I was really impressed by this, there was no standout track and each one had me tapping my feet and learning the words within a few listens. I'd imagine they'll get signed before too long to spawn a hundred imitations.

© Do Something Pretty 2003