Those Dancing Days - Daydreams & Nightmares

It's a game of two halves, Brian. Those Dancing Days have the tunes for sure. Blasts of three minute honest to goodness indie tunes with melodies you will hum for days. Alas they and their producer obviously have ambitions of competing with your Lady Gaga's and so the album has a scrubbed radio friendly sheen which threatens to engulf the whole thing in some X Factor-gone-indie saturday night massacre. It is to Those Dancing Days credit that several of the songs are good enough to blast through this sonic sludge and even sets my normally sedentary foot to 'tap' mode. Particularly impressive are the single 'I'll be Yours' and particularly 'Can't Find Entrance' which has a chorus so catchy it should come with a government health warning. The rollicking 'Fuckarias' recalls a female Arctic Monkeys, yet later on there are a couple of ballads that both uncomfortably recall The Cure yet overall the vibe is a youthful Blondie brought kicking and screaming into the 21st Century unafraid of aiming at the chart friendly teen pop crowd.