Duels - The Bright Lights…

It looked like it was never going to happen. A raft of underperforming singles, serial comparisons to That Other Band From Leeds, line-up problems, music industry mis-steps, and finally Duels’ album manages to wriggle free into the world.

Luckily, it’s worth the wait. Though most of ‘…Bright Lights’ sounds spookily familiar already - put it down to their well-trodden Britpop influences - there’s more than enough 21st century charm and original ideas to save it from being a poor imitation. The likes of ‘Brothers and Sisters’, ‘What We Did Wrong’ and ‘Potential Futures’ all judder and whirr with epic pop sensibilities, complete with rambling pianos and guitars crunchier than a lunchbox full of Ryvita. And metal screws.

It’s when they focus on the darker underbelly of their city that the band truly come into their own - while the Chiefs document drunken chippy scraps on a Friday night, Duels’ neon-tinged cityscape tragedies are just as relevant. Highlights ‘The Slow Build’ and ‘The Monsters Are Loose’ sounds like Blur on a lower low than ‘This Is A Low’ and even R.E.M at their most desolate. It’s not all piss-stained pavements and smoggy skies, though - ‘Animal’ and ‘Pressure On You’ bring a much needed injection of post-punk fizz, clattering and jumping along like Suede on a risky Ritalin ‘n’ Sunny Delight cocktail.

Although it might never reach the dizzy chart heights of their peers, ‘…Bright Lights’ is a solid debut and highlights Duels as a serious, long-term proposition. Exciting.