Fashionable pop
Of all the acts to have come through in the past year, none have managed to merge the music and fashion magazines as much as Sheffield's The Long Blondes. With the column inches for lead singer Kate Jackson's indie chic piling up and catching the attention of many a wide-eyed fan, their music has sometimes been overlooked but 'Giddy Stratospheres' should help to readdress some of the balance.
Following on from 'Once And Never Again', the song has an energetic pop sheen to it whilst Jackson coos and purrs as she tells the object of her (latest) desires that the woman she is currently with just can't live up to her but then again, that does seem a hard task for many woman. The main lyrical treat doesn't necessarily come from Jackson though, the underlying backing harmonies play like a 60s girl group in providing a counterpoint and question to the story and move the track along sharply.
The chorus manages to up the ante a lot, playing off the cool edge provided by the remaining vocals but there is a rush at its top tempo and it's a cert to be racing up the indie charts and to be bounding about on dance floors for a few months to come. With clothes not always making the man, or in this case the band, it's comforting to know that The Long Blondes have one or two tasty tunes tucked inside their rather fine sleeves.