There’s something refreshingly dynamic about this debut album from Glasgow four-piece Yellow Bentines. Sure, we have more than our fair share of indie wannabes at the moment, most of them busy waving their glo-sticks in an attempt to flag down the nu-rave bandwagon, but few of them have the tunes or the energy shown here. They’re unlikely to rewrite the musical history books, but somehow the lack of experimentation allows their strongest quality to shine through – for Yellow Bentines are an unashamedly upbeat pop band.
Opener ‘Down And Up’ is a bit of a mistake, the cheap fairground-style intro jarring horribly and sounding like a sixteen year old just beginning to write music on his Casio keyboard, but from there onwards the only way is up. ‘And Then There’s You’ is a post-punk bounce-along anthem, ‘Pay Cheque’ has just a touch of Hard-Fi’s streetwise sneer in the chorus, while ‘The Person You Want Me To Be’ is reminiscent of Ben Folds at his downbeat, yet curiously uplifting, best. At times the vocals struggle to hold the tunes, but when the songs are this good that one fault is remarkably easy to ignore.
Yellow Bentines have already built up a strong live reputation around Glasgow, having supported the likes of Editors and an almost-unknown band called the Arctic Monkeys on their tours North of the border. Now they look set to take on the world, with a pocketful of catchy tunes and a glint in their eye. And all this without a glo-stick in sight.