And What Will Be Left Of Them? - The Hi-Fi Low Life

At first listen, The Hi-Fi Low Life doesn't sound terribly inventive: this album could have been made by The Rapture or Franz Ferdinand or even Bis. But given a few spins, the hook-laden angular pop of DIY Not DIE and Orlick! Orlick! bury themselves so far into your brain that it's difficult to care who wrote them, and on standout track Dance, Damn You, Dance, their spiky pogoing sounds positively inspired. Although this is by no means a perfect album. While every song clocks in at under three minutes, at thirteen tracks, it feels like a marathon effort (not to mentiont the secret track), and filler abounds: shaving Look In Your Eye and Calling All Cars from the tracklist would be a drastic improvement. But while it's perhaps not the most challenging record around, there's no denying that when The Hi-Fi Low Life works, it's a hell of a lot of fun. [Heather Crumley]