Dead Like Harry - Know The Joy Of Good Living (The Label)

I’m not going to lie, this is truly music to make most music fans grate their teeth together at first hearing. With sickly pop melodies these bashful bards from the steel city have enough love songs and catchy melodies to class them as a band not worth listening to within the first ten seconds of one of their tracks. However, if they don’t creep up on you and infect you with those deadly pop pheromones on prolonged listening then you are strong indeed.

Matt and Sam Taylor have been writing tunes together since their early teens (that’s right – it’s a family band) and have obviously learnt all the tricks of the trade whilst inventing some of their own. On listening to a track such as ‘1000 Miles’ the intro immediately suggests Hanson and other such teeny-bop bands but don’t let this put you off as the chorus is uplifting in a much more soul inspired way and, on top of all this, the harmonies provided by Alice Faraday really add a lot of depth to the main vocal line.

The album also throws up a lot of quite surprising guitar solos. Take ‘Satellite’ for example and a bluesy and almost guttural line is ripped out of the guitar not unlike the one heard in ‘When We Were 17’. Experimenting with melody and repeating sequences, these lines show us the true knowledge of their art that these people have.

It almost feels like this is exactly what the British public needs right now - twelve cheery, summery tracks to keep you in a state of mildly happy soporific indifference until the sun really comes out and we don’t have to emulate these emotions anymore. The Taylor brothers are master craftsmen in this trade and whilst you might turn your nose up and spurn it for being throwaway pop, it’s definitely the best pop you’re going to get your hands on this year.