Former Champ – i saw you in paradise

There's a Proustian rush to this hook-drenched debut album from Glasgow’s Former Champ. With echoes of Camera Obscura, Allo Darlin' and Alvvays running through the songs, it hits home as a summertime smash of power-pop. Look closer, however, and there's more going on. Behind the choruses there’s a melodic edge to the tracks that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early Teenage Fanclub album. The lyrics cover a range of ground from lost love to the mysteries of the parallels that life sweeps us down; there's a mournful aspect that somehow also manages to sound uplifting and positive.

Perhaps more than anything it’s an album that sounds as Irish as it does Scottish. Claire McKay, aka Martha Ffion, who leads on vocal duties, seems to have made a natural progression from her solo roots to a band environment. Her delivery retains a quality suggesting a voice that's endured Guinness and heartbreak as much as Buckfast and young love. This album never feels like a solo project, however. The guitars intertwine the vocals on every track, delivering a set of songs that feel fully developed, ready to explode from your car stereo as you drive down to the coast.

Listen to: kawasaki, crooked little line, more than you give