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Single/Download Review

English Singles
Backstreet Pages EP Slumberland Records

Article written by Kev W - May 26, 2012

The four tracks on this debut release for Sacramento's English Singles are over and done with well before the EP can reach the eight minute mark. It might not be the kind of bumper crop that will have your iPod groaning under the weight of the gargantuan files, but it will have you smiling at some wonderfully executed and enthusiastic D.I.Y. guitar-pop. The ramshackle, instantly lovable variety that probably makes up a fair portion of your record collection already and always seems to sound fresh. It jangles like the lighter end of 80s British indie and has the gentle fuzz of the alternative guitar revolution happening simultaneously on the other side of the Atlantic.

Yes, you can hear The Vaselines, The Television Personalities and the college rock of the fledgling REM or Campervan Beethoven. Guitars are crisp, drums rattle and the melodies scream "pop" in such a wide-eyed and homemade way they they could never really rub shoulders with any kind of mainstream. 'Grey Skies USA' lays down the blueprint that they rigidly adhere to, its light burning briefly but brightly. That title doesn't really suit a song so summery, and the same can be said for the sunshine-pop of 'Winter'. 'Daydream' is like a miniature version of something Teenage Fanclub would have released circa 1992 and the punky 'Finer Points' has rightly been compared to The Buzzcocks. Where the 'English' bit comes in to this isn't clear, but 'Backstreet Pages' does sound like four singles.

Links:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-English-Singles/258438924560
http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/
http://www.myspace.com/englishsingles