hemlocke springs - the apple tree under the sea 

There’s something so charmingly ‘’80s kids’ film poster’ about the artwork for ‘the apple tree under the sea’, that to know it ends with a five-and-a-half minute track that uses layers of vocals to evoke a full choir, to then amp up its joyful go-getter intensity with a full-on key change, and then employs the most retro of devices - the fade-out - would, at one solitary glance, make complete sense. There’s more to hemlocke springs’ debut full-length - not least that it’s ostensibly a concept album that uses fantasy to delve into her own strict religious background and its related trauma - but it’s such an utter joy to listen to, as it borrows from the near-distant past in palette, structure and sound, that it’s just about enough to want a bright pink stereo ready to decorate with similarly-hued stickers (complementary).

Huge choruses are found aplenty, with ‘the beginning of the end’ marrying ‘00s cut-and-paste indie pop hopscotch verses with its distorted take, ‘w-w-w-w-w’ placing its own atop ‘80s echoey percussion and some staccato delivery, and ‘head, shoulders, knees and ankles’ so delightfully bratty (in the original sense) that it’s as if the fairy from a wind-up jewellery box has gone fully rogue.

Most ambitious, though, is ‘sense (is)’. Its preceding cinematic march and layered “ahs” - alongside alternating bleeps - immediately bring Pet Shop Boys to mind, before the track expands further, resplendent in the kind of sprinkly new wave synths and (another) earwormy chorus that’d sit right at home on a John Hughes film soundtrack. Nostalgic and brimming with pop gems - but mostly, a lot of fun.