Hailing from Dundee and toting their recommended and cunningly-titled mini-LP "The Hazey Janes", THE HAZEY JANES are an indie outfit whose name has been bandied around as one very much to watch in recent times.
This is your reviewer's first real encounter with them, and in the main it seems the advance notices were quite correct, as these two tunes - both culled from the mini-LP mothership - are decent slabs of guitar based invective with enough snatches of momentary interest to keep them on the boil.
"After All" is the more immediate, though arguably less impressive of the two. It kicks off with nagging, primary colours riffing, raising spectres like The Chameleons and Guided By Voices before shaping up in a more traditional indie pop sense complemented by a chorus line ("After all, we are what we are and all") of philosophical, almost Gallagher-esque wisdom. It's catchy, enjoyable and insistent, if entirely devoid of anything new.
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"Find A Way", though, is considerably more seductive. This one glistens with pedal steel and settles into an easy swing more reminiscent of Ryan Adams' recent album or unheralded Americana heroes like Nadine than the new guitar names to drop like Nine Black Alps. It's sad and blue and quite beautiful and suits this bunch to a T.
The Hazey Janes, then, are indeed worthy of your attention. And their sleeve design looks like it could have come out of ace '70s kids show "Mary, Mungo and Midge" too. Genius.
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