Music? It’s a shit business, as someone nearly famous once said. Were there any justice, the likes of Jonny Cola and Jez Leather would be household names. After the demise of the A-Grades, you’d forgive them for giving in. But, regardless of the grind of holding down day jobs, they continue to make glorious music. Which, without a record label, is nigh on impossible to release in a physical format. It’s a shame, because this album of 20 songs is, at turns, beautiful, catchy, melancholy and joyous.

With the average song length of 3 minutes, there’s no time to get bored, or stuck in a rut. There’s echoes of the A-Grades, obviously, but also Pulp, Cockney Rebel, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys and ABBA.

And with ‘A Song For Europe’, they have perhaps unwittingly written a potential Eurovision winner, complete with castanets. Once heard, never forgotten.

‘My Couchette’, with its bouncing bass line, is 2 minutes of salacious pop, ‘Breakfast In Trieste’ manages to be Ken Bruce friendly and sad in equal measure; “don’t be the last chip in the casino”.

‘He Bled’ would make Vince Clark proud, while ‘Split Personality’ has those backing vocals that Mauro was/is so good at.

‘Bristol’ is an ear worm with dark undertones; “I tried to talk to God last night, but it went to answer phone”, ‘Statues’ reminds me a little of when Blur were actually good, with a chorus from 1974, and ‘Night Train To Istanbul’ brings a bit of funk to the proceedings. Jonny continues to make seemingly innocent phrases sound ominous and seedy, thankfully.

‘Delta Blues’ is a slice of wonderful pop, a duet with Caz from Desperate Journalist, the Christmas song you didn’t know you needed. Check out the video. ‘Goodnight Vienna’ made me laugh out loud, while ‘Dunroamin’ is the perfect end to what should be a double album on vinyl/CD, bleak but beautiful. There’s much more here, obviously, but just trust me. Go over to Bandcamp, listen and then click ‘buy’. All musicians should aim this high, and I’m equally delighted that they’ve created this album and disappointed that so few people will hear it. Be one of the few.

Buy Here

Author: Martin Chamarette