Working For A Nuclear Free City – What Do People Do All Day?

An unwieldy moniker they may have, but Manchester’s WFANFC have always peddled a neat line in intelligent indie pop, not afraid to bounce around a little. And having maybe split up then perhaps not, they’ve returned with a record in which Madchester beats and quirky harmonies float amidst Richard Scarry technicolour (whose slightly satirical artwork depicted towns of animals enacting the mundanity of adult day-to-day for young minds to assimilate).

Befitting a Scarry illustration, there’s plenty of detail behind What Do People Do All Day?, from the space hopper bass of opener Bottlerocket and Motown stomp underpinning Turned Too Tight, to more reflective narratives reminiscent of The Beta Band’s less flashy material. It’s an album of shattered dreams and primary colours – “Where’s your sense of humour?” decries Blunderland – and more than once it isn’t obvious if the band are laughing with us or (in the nicest possible way) at us.