There seems to be a renaissance going on in other parts of the world (particularly the US* of *A) for all things 1979, with the likes of Interpol, Radio 4, and (cough…splutter) The Strokes all releasing records that leave the listener without any doubt as to what, when, where or who influenced their way of thinking.

Now it’s the turn of the Italians to join in with the homage and do you know what, they may have just come up with the best album out of all of ‘em.

The Candies are currently an unknown proposition in the UK, having formed at the tail end of 1996 and spent the rest of the time touring every inch of Europe except here, but with ‘Dense Waves Make Your Eyes Wider’, it won’t be long before the rest of the world sit up and take notice.

Opening number ‘Like Tennis Shoes’ bears more than a passing resemblance to Wire’s ‘Three Girl Rhumba’, while vocalist Giulio Calvino’s sarcastic snarl harks back to Andy Partridge’s less than quaint approach during XTC’s formative years.

‘Hiding Behind Open Space Barriers’ moves between Gang Of Four’s quirky experimental agit-pop and Pavement’s ‘My First Mine’ lo-fi/punk/squawk/quasi-punk “trying out” stage before they settled on defining a genre combining all four “movements” and called it post-rock.

‘Being Together’ is possibly the most terrifyingly frantic love song that’s ever been committed to disc, building up for the big climax then…SPURT!!! ‘Device Power’ on the other hand is strikingly similar to Magazine’s ‘Shot By Both Sides’ yet Calvino’s vocal identifies it as something else entirely - unique.

Although there are many comparisons with the past on ‘Dense Waves Make Your Eyes Wider’ (and I haven’t even mentioned the bass on ‘You Fly While Driving’ giving me the same goose bumps I got from hearing The Cure’s ‘1015 Saturday Night' for the first time), The Candies have simply used their influences to map out the future, and while many of their contemporaries seem to be wallowing in some older brother’s record collection-led nostalgia trip, The Candies are simply leading the way forward.