Clean George IV – God Save The Clean

Enigmatic Edinburgh citizen Clean George has busied himself with a classical music degree, a lawsuit from Kraftwerk and myriad projects since we last heard from him way back in 2007. It hasn’t been time wasted as even a cursory listen to debut album God Save the Clean will attest. Bulging with ideas and slapping genres with glee, here's a record that is both stupidly fun whilst being subtly intelligent.

Notable highlight Real Men Take Speed blusters in as stadium-sized, electro glam rock anthem on the surface but hides an astute social commentary beneath its fret-board burning overload. The likes of Cecilia and Pets In The Blitz carry the baton effortlessly, the wayward formula always bowing down to a solid rock riff or synth-pop hook when it needs it. That might make for a somewhat dizzying listen, but a thrifty runtime overall ensures that George doesn’t outstay his welcome. Let’s hope the follow up to this wonderfully quirky nugget isn’t quite so long in the making.