Slow Club - Yeah, So

English duo Slow Club have a familiar boy-on-guitar/girl-on-drums dynamic. However, while this may suggest that Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor are a couple of White Stripes wannabes, in truth their sound is closer to the cuteness of Noah and The Whale than the ragged blues of Jack and Meg.

On their debut long-player, the gentle acoustic melody of opener When I Go is followed by the foot-stomping indie-pop of Giving Up On Love. This dichotomous pattern continues throughout, as slower tracks are interspersed with more upbeat numbers. While the softer songs show off some pretty harmonies (imagine The Magic Numbers going anti-folk), the high-points on Yeah, So are largely more upbeat, like the Rockabilly romp of It Doesn’t Have To Be Beautiful. With a big chorus that’s hard not to sing along to, it’s one of a few really memorable, uplifting tunes. Similarly, the shouty skiffle of Because We’re Dead is good fun. Throughout the record, Taylor proves herself to have a lovely voice, with a touch of the Laura Marlings about it.

Amongst an array of innocent love songs there is some darker wordplay, and plenty of wit too (“The bones inside my shins are crumbling/It’s from all the crunking I’ve been doing,”). Largely though, for all their unconventionality (in amongst bashing the stand-up drums Taylor finds percussion from bottles, spoons and chairs) the Sheffield pair actually offer fairly simple and accessible boy/girl melodies and, while Yeah, So might be more twee than Belle and Sebastian going cardigan shopping, it’s certainly charming enough to be a worthwhile listen.