Lucky Soul

More on: Lucky Soul
 
Released: 09/04/07
Label: Ruffa Soul
Rating:

The days are finally starting get longer, the cricket season has begun and upmarket newspapers are filled with articles about global warming and water shortages every time the sun comes out. All this can only mean one thing - the summer has officially begun.

This gives music journalists a chance to label any song with a hummable chorus and a side helping of trumpets "the soundtrack of the summer". Thankfully Greenwich's best (only?) six-piece indie popsters Lucky Soul have saved hacks throughout the land from months of having to listen to loads of dodgy songs with 'Sun', 'Summer' and 'Sunshine' in the title by releasing 2007's more sparkling pop album in early April. 'The Great Unwanted' is one of the best albums you’ll hear all year and deserves to sell bucket (and spade) loads.

The opening track 'Add Your Light To Mine Baby' is an ode to unrequited love which sounds like it was recorded by some great forgotten 60s girl group. and 'Get Outta Town' is a danceable feast of a song full of horns and manic drumming. Meanwhile 'Ain't Never Been Cool' is the sassy pop song that Saint Etienne spent an entire career trying to write but never quite managed.

A quick scan through the album's song titles reveals that things aren't always rosy in the Soul's garden. 'Lips Are Unhappy', 'Baby I'm Broke' and 'My Brittle Heart' could all be names plucked from a dodgy Emo album or an episode of the Jeremy Kyle show. Luckily, they're all beautiful songs, overflowing with gorgeous melodies which perfectly complement Ali Howard's warm bubblegum pop vocals. The stand out track is 'It's Yours' which is melancholy pop at its finest.

At a time when bands are spending the GDP of small African countries trying to make stripped down, 'back to basics' albums to prove that they mean it (man), it's a joy to hear a band who realise that music doesn't have to be downbeat, drab and earnest to be compelling and affecting. 'The Great Unwanted' will be the soundtrack to your summer and you'll still be playing it come Christmas.

John McCarthy

Lucky Soul Official Site
Lucky Soul Myspace