ESTRONS

It might be the season of good cheer, but Estrons (which means “aliens” in Welsh) are ignoring such fripperies and coming at you with three minutes of thrashy guitar pop guaranteed to knock the baubles off your tree and have granny spluttering into her eggnog.

After a brief ambient intro, there’s no doubting the intent of the sledgehammer 16th-note baseline and synchronised overdriven twin-guitar assault. But the real treat here is Taliesyn Källström‘s vocals, which combines Louise Wener‘s melodic sneer with a subtly unhinged sexual charge.

There’s moans, whimpers and – my favourite musical device – the primal scream. The lyrical refrain – “I’d like to make a man of you” – is full of both desire and threat, and on the basis that the world cannot have too many shouty female-fronted bands, the arrival of the otherworldly Estrons is very welcome indeed.

Words by Martin Sharman

Tip by Ray Thomas from Cut Ribbons