The Tearaways “And For Our Next Trick”

Given this album is on the brilliant Dirty Water records label you kind of know it’s going to be good. But when it’s described as being for fans of “garage pop” and contains “infectious earworms that command multiple spins” we knew we had to give it a listen.

The first song “Are You Effing Kidding Me” is an absolute corker of an opening track. It has a kind of psychedelic pop sound that actually reminds us of early Wilco. But with a sense of humour and fun that Wilco haven’t had for a long time (if ever!). It’s followed by “Not Good Enough” which sees the band move into an even more power pop sound. Though that pop feel is taken up to another level by “Come On Jaan”, probably our favourite song on the album.

It needs to be said that it seems like The Tearaways are really influenced by The Beatles (which power pop style band isn’t?). The  great thing about that though is that it opens up a wide range of sounds. It means they can go from the classic pop of “No Love Lost” to the psychedelic sound of “Let Me Be The Last” (which also owes a nod to The Beach Boys). Our personal preference is when they add a bit of Hamburg era rock n roll to the mix like on “Saturday Everyday” and “Goodnight Nurse”.

This still leaves time for some brilliant power pop songs like “Married And Single” and “Easier Done Than Said” which recall other bands that have taken a cue from the Fab Four eg Jellyfish, Umajets etc. The ability to write great pop tracks is often not given the credit it deserves. The Tearaways certainly have the knack of writing songs that instantly appeal and it’s hard to see how anyone wouldn’t enjoy these great songs.