The Long Weekend 20 Minutes 13 Stops

The Long Weekend hail from Medway and have been hard at work on this album, and by the sounds of it listening to their parents or even grandparents record collections.

They encompass a number of styles from the Clashy rhythms of opener Bastard Son and as their blurb says, the Teardrop Explodes. (This is especially evident on Record, which could cause even Julian Cope to double-take.) These are actually pretty good songs, but in the main, it's a pop album, with some indie lobbed in now and then.

On Your Way has a slightly darker tone and is an interesting contrast to the rest of the album. Closing track Merits Green isn't the epic it aspires to be, but does have some pretty nifty hard rock guitar feedback and soloing.

The performances are good, and there's also a cockiness pervading the album that will charm some and annoy others. At the end of the day it's a solid debut, but with so many bands mining these musical seams, The Long Weekend will need to come up with something a bit more imaginative next time.