Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester

With 2011 enamoured with the retro, it’s unlikely that Trailer Trash Tracys’ debut entry into 2012’s early days will drop jaws. That’s not to suggest the London quartet is lazy though. Formed around Interpol’s and the Rapture’s boom years, TTT aimed for the opposite of their contemporaries - ‘Ester’ being the full-length culmination of a band equally as talented. Signed to Domino’s sister label Double Six (with Spiritualized, Jon Hopkins and John Cale), TTT centre on Suzanne Aztoria and Jimmy Lee – a customer care worker (she) and freelance graphic designer (him) by day. Having toured with the XX and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, TTT have the tunes to match – the glistening velveteen of ‘Black Circle’ opting for an angelic take on the XX’s ‘Infinity.’

Early followers of the band will be happy to see previous releases included, which is where the LP shines the brightest. ‘You Wish You Were Red’ is all the bit still as enchanting – its opening melody irresistibly borrowing from Simple Minds’ ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me). ‘Candy Girl’’s swirling guitar line is just as enticing. The glitched circus sheens of ‘Dies In 55’ and ‘Engeldhardt’s Arizona’ sound like a tamed ‘Head Over Heels’ era Cocteau Twins – Aztoria’s voice not dissimilar from Elizabeth Fraser’s on the plinky-plonky ‘Starlatine’ and ‘Los Angered.’

Filtered through a dispersing wall of glistening synths and trippy haze, ‘Ester’ is a sonically rich debut. ‘I’d like to think that even Britney Spears could cover one of our songs and you’d still be able to see its melody shining through,” says Lee (via The Guardian). It’s a big claim indeed and whilst ‘Ester’s kaleidoscopic allure often verges on indulgence; it does so without being alienating, avoiding the trap of burying itself far up its own arse.