Pardon Paul? You want me to listen to a female fronted band from Birmingham, Alabama? No tha…..wait….this is good! To my surprise this five track EP from The Ackleys, which has a hand printed cardboard CD case and a nice little envelope containing a printed sheet of lyrics, is a great listen and has made me a little ashamed that I almost pushed it to one side. Ok, so it helps that the band are fronted by an Alanis Morrisette sound-a-like and rip into the first track “Andy, our loss” with a Motion City Soundtrack esque synth, but the results are positive.
This four piece indie pop band aren’t a band I’ve come across before but “Forget Forget Derive Derive” is one of those pleasant surprises that you sometimes get as a reviewer. The type of CD that you aren’t expecting anything from but actually turns out to be a cool releases with lovely pop hooks. First song “Andy, our loss” starts fairly slowly before the keys hit home a minute into the track and you realise that this is a band worth listening to. The recording was done in a friends basement and that is evident at times but it does add a bit of character to the EP and that certainly help when you’re first listening to a new band. Second track “We’re not listening” is carried somewhat by the excellent vocals, as musically it’s solid but nothing too clever, and at times that is the downside of this release. Take away Katie’s vocals and you aren’t left with much at times – but combine her somewhat gritty twang with simple pop songs held together by imaginative lyrics and you’re laughing. “7 days” further accentuates Katie’s talents but this doesn’t over shadow the rest of the band too much as “Blank mind between the traffic lights” is the time for the band to shine.
Closing track “Can of ashes” is a little bit low key for such a short release and perhaps would suit an album rather than an EP, but in general I’ve enjoyed “Forget forget derive derive” and it adds a nice diversity to my CD collection.
Tom