Manners

We’re all supposed to heart the 1980’s these days, but this writer finds he is still thoroughly allergic. Wasn’t this the decade that brought unspeakable fashion crimes, terrible music and corporate greed to the masses? No amount of irony can make A Flock of Seagulls sound, or look, good. Indeed, when LCD Soundsystem sang about ‘borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties’ it was clear that James Murphy had hit the nail on the head.

If you’re feelings are similar to the above, chances are you’ll need Manners like a hole in the head. Eighties keyboards swirl, cymbals are at the top of the mix, falsettos wail and it becomes clear that chief song-writer Michael Angelakos not only owns, but occasionally even listens to soft-rock records. Not a promising foundation, but unfortunately resistance is futile, because this album is pretty fantastic. Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Zero’ may be the most exciting lead track on a record in 2009, but ‘Make Light’ is a mighty close second – an utterly dizzying sugar rush of a pop song. ‘The Reeling’ is almost as good, Angelakos’ fraught lyrics typical of the album as whole “Look at me/ Is this the way I’ll always be?/ Oh no!”. Unafraid to try even the most warned-against ideas, he even brings out a children’s choir on ‘Little Secrets’ and, incredibly, pulls it off. Although the second half isn’t quite as good as the first, it does boast the sumptuous ‘To Kingdom Come’ and the bonkers squealing of ‘Sleepyhead‘.

Falling somewhere between Scissor Sisters and Phoenix, this debut feels almost precision-designed to be a word-of-mouth (and blog) summer hit and polarise opinion in the process. Eighties revivalists will devour it, and as for the resistance brigade, well… why fight it when submission feels this good? Manners may not be quite enough to make you fall in love with the eighties, but it’s certainly a better proposition than that dreadful Empire of the Sun album. Get it before it becomes ubiquitous and – let’s face it – unbearably irritating.