Review by: Ben Haynes
So, after 3 excellent singles on Jonson Family and a raucous, exhilarating 13-minute, 7-track EP for Wichita last year, Lovvers are back with their first full-length. After what seems like constant touring over the last couple of years, you might have thought they’d find their niche, make a logical and linear progression from those previous recordings and deliver a tight, focused, clean and well-produced album, fully representative of the aggressive, highly-charged shows that we hear about so often ending in confusion and complaint. But, of course, you’d be wrong.
The last few times I’ve caught Lovvers playing out they haven’t failed to put a smile on my face. The Wipers/Germs/Black Lips comparisons are easy ones to make for any of the thousands of touring scuzzed-out garage rock bands doing the rounds at the moment, but there’s something genuinely unique and way above the average going on here. Twelve songs rattle through in half an hour and I’ll be damned if there’s even one that isn’t catchy as hell. It’s rough, primitive, fuzzy and completely unprofound, but that’s precisely what makes the whole thing so utterly charming and enjoyable.
This is a record that feels and sounds almost effortless – comfortable, even – despite being made up entirely of what are essentially urgent, simple, short, bare-bones blasts of pop-tinged garage punk. Whether it’s the don’t-give-a-fuck lo-fi analogue recording or the brash, scruffy vocal that barely holds together (thankfully kept low in the mix throughout) – I can’t quite put my finger on it. But Lovvers are easily the best band of their kind in the UK right now and “OCD Go Go Go Girls’ goes to prove that they don’t just think so too, they really know.