The Four Oh Five – 26th August 2011

7/10

It’s astonishing how young and talented some bands can be on their first record, especially when they seem to come out of nowhere. One Sixth of Tommy are made up of three girls who are all about to reach the age of 20: Jordan Martin (vocals, guitar) Jorja Bates (vocals, guitar, bass) and Joanna Grennan (vocals, guitar, piano). All three have strong voices and swap harmonising roles between songs. After meeting at a song-writing weekend two years ago, they’ve toured England and played a number of festivals including this year’s Glastonbury. One song was written during that weekend when they met, which spawned the other 10 on this release.

‘I Don’t Care About It’, ‘Everything’s OK’ and ‘The Pact’ are tracks that should have the repeat button firmly on. All the songs swiftly flow into each other and not having a lot of life experience doesn’t mean the lyrics do not resonate. ‘The Pact’ is a love letter – the first single released and has already been quickly covered by a guy on Youtube. ‘Everything’s OK’ is their latest single, and was available digitally a week ago. The three different voices allow the group a lot of versatility, especially along with their ability to swap instruments at a drop of a hat. ‘Not Listening’ contains a bit of feux American accent singing in it, however following this comes the sublime ‘The Pact’ where their English accents are restored.

The album is due for release on 29th August 2011 and it could put the West Midland town of Stourbridge where they are from on the musical map. It’s an incredibly simple record and sometimes they’re the best. If You’re In My Head had been released a few months earlier, it would have been one of the records of the summer. Dan McAlistair