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In a year of UK indie featuring copious amounts of sub-standard follow up albums and disappointingly dull debuts, it's nice to hear something a bit brighter and jauntier in the form of The Holloways' debut album. They've taken on a lot of the currently en vogue social commentary about the state of the country and the chav masses, which is unfortunate, but we can forgive them due to the high levels of fun in many of the tunes.
To get the whiny bits out the way early, opening track Great Britain is a JamClash hackfest with cliched lyrics and without panache, while Fit for a Fortnight is a decent enough tune ruined by the chav theme: it reminds me of Mike Skinner's horrible little face, which is not good. Putting these trifling matters aside though, elsewhere there's some of the best feelgood tracks of the year: singles Generator and Two Left Feet in particular showcase the band's versatility. One is ska influenced and a real singalong track, the other features violins and harmonicas and has a country flavour, and sandwiched between them is Dancefloor, a euphoric romp which isn't far from a dancefloor track itself.
Later we have a surprisingly powerful ballad about a broken London prostitute (Most Lonely Face) - it's a rare moment of introspection on an upbeat album, but fits in remarkably well. Shortly after that the sunniest track (Diamond and Pearls) arrives, and it might just convince you that you're not entering into the dark Winter months. And the ska-ish Nothing For The Kids even manages to pull off the social commentary without sounding whiny. All in all an album of damn good tunes, cliches and all!
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