Shimmering Glaswegian indie-rock
Scotland, on occasion, has produced some real indie gems, and Attic Lights are just that. Melodic, catchy, and totally chart-friendly, ‘Bring You Down’ is a nice balance between the traditional pop sounds of The Beach Boys, and modern indie bands like The Kooks or alt. Rock like the Flaming Lips. And even better, the Scottish Free Church have labelled their work “Blasphemous Trash”. So they must be doing something right. Sadly, there’s nothing quite as controversial as all that here, just a very nice, jingly-jangly pop record.
I wasn’t joking about them sounding very like the Flaming Lips. In fact, if you sent FL and The La’s into a studio with Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, this is probably what the result would sound like. But with a crunchy guitar middle eight and orchestral backing. All bases covered for a hit record, then. In fact, it’s almost guaranteed once you find out that Bjorn Yttling (of Peter, Bjorn and John) did the string arrangements. Jumping on the indie bandwagon has never sounded so good.