Hailing from Stafford, but currently based in Liverpool, REGARDS are clearly keen to take control of their future from the off.
Drilled into action on adrenalized twin guitars, their debut single ‘After Many a Summer’ has a welcome urgency akin to The Chameleons at their most brusquely direct (i.e. circa their classic ‘In Shreds’ single) and takes a great pride in ramping up the drama even further courtesy of a blazing sunburst of a chorus. Singer/ guitarist Matthew ticks another of this reviewer’s boxes thanks to his grainy, but commanding voice which comes without the merest hint of a falsetto inflection. Refreshing indeed in a world where the anaemic likes of Gary Lightbody seem to hold sway.
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I’d like to hear more before I get too hot under the collar, but on this showing Regards play with the kind of turmoil-fuelled conviction (note the importance of that last word) that the likes of The Chameleons and The Sound once dealt in. If you really must be placated with a contemporary comparison, then you’ll have to make to do with “a less-mannered Interpol” but that’s all the help you’re getting.
Regards, then, seem like they may well be worthy of your affections. Keep them in mind for 2010.
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