Rarely can there have been such a terrifically staged entrance (excepting of course that of immaculate new-wave arch dukes Franz Ferdinand). As recently as a few months ago nobody would have seriously thrown Delays change outside Camden Town tube, let alone served them half a cider and black in the Good Mixer on a quiet weeknight. Then two singles, the blissed-out summer indie anthem ‘Nearer Than Heaven’ and the chewing-gum-in-the-sun summer indie anthem ‘Hey Girl’, dropped indie fairy-dust all over the radio and in a tuneful flash transformed them into the most acceptably ubiquitous band you didn’t yet know the name of. Then, they were just anonymous indie nuggets, ripe for chewing on, quietly. Indie, indie, indie.
Then KA-RUNCH! Open flies the front door of pop culture, splintering a little against the wall, and once the quasi-dramatic smoke had cleared in snuck four excessively-fringed audience members from The Word, brandishing Clearly The Best Song You Can Remember Ever Hearing Recently. Which was all they needed in the short term. ‘Long Time Coming’ may have owed equal debts to the turning cultural climate and the Las’ brief back catalogue, but rarely has there ever been so much audible sunshine in January. It was brilliant. They were welcomed, they became pop stars.
But they’ve just re-released ‘Nearer Than Heaven’. They’ll probably do the same with ‘Hey Girl’. If it hadn’t done the trick first time, you can bet they would have with ‘Long Time Coming’. And such a focus of strength only shows up weakness elsewhere. And though it starts with another gem in the steel-drum utilising ‘Wanderlust’, like indie just hopped off the train from Reading, skipped down to the Notting Hill Carnival and got its hair braided, your ears are repeatedly expected to focus on the faded. ‘You Wear The Sun’ and ‘On’ are nice, but they are not Clearly The Best Songs You Can Remember Ever Hearing. And that’s a disappointment, that’s all. A bit like reading a Rough Guide to Brighton and then getting the bus to Blackpool off season.