Sunday 9 January 2011

The Whatevers - Fun Size Drugs ep

The follow-up to last August's wonderful 'Rhapsody in Blue Jeans', the new Whatevers ep is (thankfully) no more accomplished. Full of rattley guitars, ropey singing and shoouty bits in the right places, most of the songs here sound a little like late '90s heroes Uresei Yatsura and, at times, early Hefner.

There's a re-working of boy/girl love/hatefest 'You and Your Twisted Romance' which has a bit more oomph than before, whilst 'Stuart Murdoch' takes a swipe at the pomposity of some of the supposed indiepop glitterati. Best track here, mind, is 'All the Dirty Kids and Dead Rock Stars' with its world-weary lyrics and wondefully lolloping guitar line. It's the sort of song that makes you stare out of the window and think about Really Deep Stuff.

Final track 'It Could've Been the Start of Something Beautiful' is intriguing. A love song looking back at a decade of a relationship it just about soundtracks every awkward, confusing, exciting, disappointing and wonderfully nosensical nature of sharing your life with someone. Tucked away at the back of this ep, it deserves more attention.

You can listen and then buy the ep here. The Whatevers are playing an Oddbox Records night at The Wilmington Arms in London on 20 May, if we all live that long.

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