The Twang - Love It When I Feel Like This

That ol' down-to-earth laddish charm.

Album Review by Barry Jackson | 10 Jun 2007
Label: B-Unique
This bunch of Brummies have already made quite a stir this year, adding some down-to-earth laddish charm to indie-rock proceedings a little laden down with skinny jeans and self-consciousness. Each tune on their debut LP contains the same basic ingredients: start with a shuffling baggy beat, add a sprinkling of old school Edge guitars, garnish with a gruffer sounding Mike Skinner vocal, and hey presto - you've just made a Twang song! The fact that they get away with it is testament not only to their cheeky charm but also to the quality of the writing - from the witty, 'them-next-door' stomp of The Neighbour to upcoming single Either Way, which, admittedly, does comes off like their own answer to Dry Your Eyes. Love It When I Feel Like This appears as a pretty decent distillation of indie music from the late 80s right up to the present, and it thereby creates a worrying question for retro fans everywhere, as we're apparently running out of past to plunder. Where exactly do we go from here? An early-noughties revival, anyone? [Barry Jackson]
Release Date: 4 June.
The Twang play T in the Park, Balado on 8 July. http://www.thetwang.co.uk