Cherryfalls
Winter/Winter

I’ve been slapped round the face by a great big, wet pop fish. Allow me to mop myself down and tell you about it.

It doesn’t take the most taxing mental exertion to see why Cherryfalls singer Joe McAdam was signed to a major before he even put the band together. If this album hadn’t worked out, they’d have locked him in the basement writing breezy, wistful hits for any of their would-be-slightly-credible pop stars, feeding him on a diet of only messed up relationships and early ‘90s indie records.

As it is, from the stompy thunder of album opener 'In Your Arms Again' the rest of the band help him fire off a relentless assault of slightly bruised, obscenely melodic, shiny pop bullets. With the sleepy, little boy lost vocals and a stack of hook heavy guitars, this will all probably find its way into the hit parade before too long.

The only problem is that it’s all a bit faceless. If specialist analysts were sent off to listen to every guitar pop record from the last 15 years and compile an ideal album, the results might sound disturbingly like this. The anthemic appeal of 'The Bends' era Radiohead, and the genre that has followed in its wake ever since, is re-animated yet again. Though it’s done with beauty and a deftness of touch, it’s a bit hard to find Cherryfalls’ own identity.

But who cares? It may be called 'Winter/Winter' but this album is like an uncomplicated sunny day and no one complains about one of them.