Pearl & The Puppets - Make Me Smile

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, chances are you’ve heard Pearl and the Puppets’ debut radio hit ‘Because I Do’. Fetching Kirkintilloch, Scotland lass Katie Sutherland fronts and is the primary songwriter for the twee pop group. While it would be easy to dismiss the doe-eyed Sutherland as a pretty face and nothing more, listening to the follow-up single, ‘Make Me Smile’, indicates Sutherland and her band warrant further attention.

Pop music has never been easy to pen - ask anyone in the business. And putting repetitive ‘do do dos’ have generally not gone over well since the days of the Police. But Sutherland’s tender voice in ‘Make Me Smile’ gently embracing the warm pop instrumental backing is spot on. Cloying pop tunes can go incredibly wrong if the sentiment feels false. ‘Make Me Smile’ is an example when everything came together exactly right. It’s brilliant. It’s believable. Moreover, the tune is guaranteed to make you feel good all over. Traceyanne Campbell may soon have a worthy adversary.

Wide-eyed wonderment and innocence are hard to find in this oversexed and cynical world of Beyonce and Lady Gaga, but this single by Pearl and the Puppets suggests there is hope for pop music.