Help She Can’t Swim - The Death Of Nightlife

With the playfully-named southerners having been around for a fair while - they formed back in 2003 - it’s surprising that they haven’t had all the fun-loving punkster spirit stamped out of them by the scabby hand of tramp rock.

Not that ‘Pass The Hat Around’ kicks off the whole shebang with the best omens. It’s over three minutes long for pop’s sake! And it has a swirling quality that just doesn’t fit right. While bits of it work well, it, along with the album closer, just form two beige bookends to the giddy shouts that the band carry on their shelves.

No worries though, things mainly pick up. ‘Kite Eating Tree’ works computer game bluster punk to ace effect, while single ‘Hospital Drama’ manages to encompass a slowed down section with more success than the opener. Taking on the slow-fast-slow formula with a nonchalant rumble and a rollicking riff, the album manages to be both energisingly stupid and stupidly cool.

Same goes on tracks like ‘Box Of Delights’. Even including lyrics discussing ‘how hot M.I.A. looks’, it’s a feisty piece of work only surpassed by ‘Just Be Social’ in terms of sheer force.

Help She Can’t Swim make playful and powerful look easy. Hopefully they won’t ditch the synthesiser and take up tweed any time soon.