If the Frank Sidebottom homage of a cover doesn’t grab you, the explosiveness of Bad Advice Good People‘s contents is certain to freeze-frame the widest of smiles to your face.
A raucous six pack akin to Kleenex or Gang Of Four with hard-chiselled words and bloated basslines that hook you in front and centre, prowl your head like an over-active imagination with armfuls of day-glo tinsel. That girly voice breezes / bites / the contrasting blokey offset swinging a tennis ball within, duets to die for parcelled in spiky danceable satisfaction.
The seductive arson of the first track leaping into the bingo chip-chop of “Song In The Key Of Emo”, nestling a Pixies-like lamplight and an additive-filled lunch-box. Clear History’s heart is full and colourful, burning super bright. The discord of “Presents” shifting a Prolapse-like (the band that is) mania of gnarly squeal and flowing floods. The life-affirming pump of “Morsels”, its mirror-imaged lyrics and tight fret action swimming in an itchy sing-ability. Can’t fault a thing here, the way the title track “Bad Advice Good People” noodles your head in a shuffle-caked indie, a Jad Fair-like delight rupturing into the sweet B-52s-ish demise of “The Mall”.A tantalising taste of things to come for sure.
-Michael Rodham-Heaps-
