Even if you happened to be around in 1991, chances are you won't have heard of The Pop Larkins. Unless you were a regular gig-goer on the Glasgow circuit. Fast forward 20 years, and this underrated Teenage Fanny-esque band has decided to re-record and release some of their best bits. Now I wouldn't want to encourage every low-level indie garage band from yesteryear to flood the airwaves with re-issues, but this is actually top pop rock.
This compilation has enough layers of distorted guitars and harmony vocals to give its sweet tunes rough edges and solid centres. Combing sunshine imagery with a gleeful lyrical sensibility, most of the songs relate to familiar themes of recurring girl trouble ("Baby, I don't care too much for what you wear / Every time I take you out / All my friends say you're far too square"). Although the vocals are more charming than strong, there is something infinitely accessible about the technically imperfect vocal delivery that lends itself very much to the indie aesthetic.
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With a sound that places them musically between the muscular rock of The Skids and the more tender noises of Teenage Fanclub, The Pop Larkins have carved out a great niche in bristling guitar pop. The stand out track is probably "The Pub Song" with its call-and-response vocals, although there are other contenders such as "Suffrajet" with its tip-of-the-hat to Lloyd Cole's Rattlesnakes. "False Start" has the swagger of The Strokes, there are some heart wrenching moments on "Lullaby" and "Save Me" and the album is bookended with an all guns blazing guitar solo on "Juggernaught".
Despite the passage of time, this album still manages to sound fresh and invigorating. Fingers crossed then, that this ray of sunshine indie pop/rock is not overlooked a second time round.
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