Barfly
Talking With The Middleman

Manchester Starsailor wannabes, Barfly, present another well produced record, which is very poppy and melancholy and like the release from Valve, is trampling towards familiar territory – ie. the indie-guitar, balladly, pop charts. Which, in my humble view, is no bad thing.

"Shelter" is a more of an acoustic affair, but this doesn't detract from the power delivered within the song. This tracks sounds most definitely like Del Amitri (on a very, very good day, may I add …). It also weighs in at a hefty 4 minutes plus, which despite the pleasing guitar solo is a little long given the overall feel of the song.

"Talking With The Middleman" sounds a bit more like it, whatever "it" is, with plenty of strumming and a bit more of an exercising of the vocals, which, although no James Walsh, pays off handsomely. In this case the sound is quite original and the song, with a laid back ambience, doesn't actually sound too much like any of their Top 30 peers.

"Don't Make Me Wait" mixes a crumbling overdriven guitar with acoustic strums, over which the vocals shimmer and then descend into a reasonably OK chorus. The verse is great, but does disappoint a little, as it doesn't fully deliver what it fully promises.

Regardless of the fact that the above offering has been examined with a red hot poker, there are some very promising and commercial ideas, which do earn Barfly a recommendation. Another, it would appear, to add to the pile of wonderful, emotionally drivem new British bands ready to wipe away the dead wood of Nu-Metal and Britpop. Can't be bad.