Johnny Foreigner - Arcs Across The City

When it comes to music, Birmingham has long looked a bit dodgy on its second city status. There’s no need to name check the musical monstrosity that most recently comes to mind when Brum is mentioned, but thank the Lord, that’s all about to come to an end. Johnny Foreigner are here to save the day.

Hyperactive clap happy discordant pop flows through JoFo’s debut seven track mini-album like a stick of especially angular rock. 100mph guitar music that’s neither throw away or straight down the line, there’s everything from Sonic Youth to Pavement packed within, all the time coming up with something fiercely unique.

‘Champagne Girls I Have Known’ literally screams toddler on a sugar rush, stumbling from one hyperactive guitar line to the next, screaming all the way into the standout ‘The End And Everything After’. Achieving catchy, timeless and down right fun in three minutes of perfection, it’s the defining moment of ‘Arcs Across The City’, and to these ears a late contender for track of the year.

More than just a check list of the right influences, there’s something wonderfully organic about the snotty ‘Sofacore’ that suggests that Johnny Foreigner are a band that will inspire more than grave rob others. After all, other bands tend to slow down now and again, something which only rarely occurs here. When it does, however, it’s startling; ‘This Band Is Killing Us’ quite literally sparkling. Everything else is so ADHD it’s almost impossible to believe quite how brilliant it is, and in a year where so many domestic albums haven’t quite hit the mark, it’s enough to put the firm stamp of rabid expectation on everything from here on in.

Not that that should be a problem; ‘Arcs Across The City’ is as close to faultless as a band can get, never feeling forced, contrived or anything less than effortlessly natural. More than that, it suggests there’s even more to follow. Exciting doesn’t even come close.