Few releases are as much toe tapping fun as this bitter sweet debut from Wakefield’s The Research. Marrying memorable choruses with fuzzy Casio keyboard riffs they have created a distinctive woozy sound that works as an eminently recognisable backdrop to their tales of love, both lost and gained. Imagine the emotional witterings of David Gedge or Darren Hayman but sitting over rumbling basslines and shambolic electro rhythms and you get the tear stained picture. The trick though is that whilst the lyrics veer from the deliriously happy to, more often, lower lip wobblingly sad, the music is almost uniformly upbeat and positive. As a result you find yourself singing along or la-la-la-ing with the lovely female harmonies, barely registering that the words you’re uttering are of teenage despair (“I don’t want to be afraid of love but I’m running out of time” and “I’m in love with a guy the apple of my best friend’s eye / You’ll never know my suffering, I can’t bare to look at him”). If only breaking up really was as joyous as this gorgeous buzzpop gem.

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