Labels: Matinee Recordings
Review by: MH
This is a duo with a quintessentially English name from two Popguns in Wendy and Simon Pickles. Apparently this started out with the intention of being an acoustic album but things progressed to getting the full electric treatment so here we are now. I’ve mentioned previously that the Popguns are one of the first bands I ever saw live and Wendy’s vocals will always feel familiar. Naturally there are more than a few similarities to the Popguns here and it’s a fairly restrained and mature set of songs. “Spirited Away” feels the closest soundwise to how the Popguns sound – it’s all melancholy, melodic and wistful. There is a keyboard along the way too and “Try A Little Harder” veers into something like St. Etienne territory. There is also an early, not too Christmassy, Christmas song on here before the lovely and sad “You Wrote” with its fingerpicked acoustic guitar. It’s a nice listen all round and should tide you over until the next Popguns release.