The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home (Rough Trade)
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Okay, 'Someone to Drive You Home' is just about as 'indie' as it's possible to get - but in a really, really good way. Its main reference points are impeccable. Morrissey's wry bedsit introspection and Jarvis Cocker's perceptive northern social narratives provide the backdrop. The punchy, brazen sexuality and spiky guitars of early Elastica are also present, all wrapped up in a vintage luminous Hollywood melodrama luster. Add frontwoman Kate Jackson's shrewd, knowing and often strongly empathetic observations and it's clear that The Sheffield quintet come fully formed and ready to fall in love with.
And whilst it's true that although these songs are mostly written about/from the perspective of females on the cusp of adulthood, it's to 'STDYH's immense credit that these tunes transcend their origins to blossom into something altogether more inclusive. Indeed, this album should be required listening for every sensitive fresher heading Uni-wards this term.
There's just so much to enjoy (and undoubtedly in many cases, identify with) here. The endearingly ramshackle 'Once And Never Again' has Jackson imploring sound-headed 'carpe diem' advice like the cool big sister rockfeedback never had: a theme also revisited on 'Heaven Help The New Girl'. The deliciously bitchy 'Giddy Stratospheres' mercilessly denigrates a love rival over jaggedly glacial, Bloc Party-ish post punk, with a frosty Debbie Harry impersonation paired with Le Tigre call-and-response vocals. 'Separated by Motorways', a heartrending ode to long-distance relationships also secures the honour of being the first pop song ever to reference the A14. The darkly humorous boy/girl spoken-word self-examination in 'You Could Have Both' is like The Smiths 'I Know It's Over' for 21st century twenty-somethings -'I was in full-time education when I got scared of the future/ And I've only got a job so I don't disappoint my mother.' Brilliant.
'Weekend Without Makeup', the band's debut single for Rough Trade, is possibly the pick of the bunch. It might be pilfering the riff from Franz Ferdiand's 'Darts of Pleasure', but instead of celebrating silver-tongued seductiveness, this is an indie-disco tribute to quiet desperation concerning an errant boyfriend. A tale of insecurity, distrust, all bound up with a fantastic, therapeutic shoutalong chorus. 'Where do you go when you finish work?' pleads Jackson. 'You should have been back about an hour ago/You've left me fashioning a double bed/And acting like some kind of fifties housewife.' Phew. You might need a sit down and a glass of water after that.
Forget New Rave: 'Someone To Drive You Home' is surely the most hug-inducing album you'll hear all year.
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