THE VESTALS

The skies across Britain may be telling us otherwise, but the time for seasonal introspection is over and we could do with a little something to blow the frost from off our lazy bones.

The Vestals step up to the plate with their wintery blast of power-pop just the right balance of wistful heartache and wide-eyed euphoria not to clash with the bleak landscape outside.
Their new double A-side gives us ‘Perfect Pain’ for starters, its deceptive intro of gently strummed chords and retro drum machine bursting forth into staccato guitars and sky scraping synths. It’s all shot through with a youthful melodrama not dissimilar to the early sounds of The Cure, with a hefty shot of The Strokes as chaser.

Meanwhile, ‘Seventeen’ is Ryan Adams’ ‘So Alive’ with a shoegaze makeover and Suede-esque middle-eight. The boy/girl harmonies and vocal inflection on both tracks may be a dead-ringer for those of Stockholm’s Shout Out Louds, and indeed the influences on show here are nothing ground-breaking, but hey, it’s January and a wake-up call like this is just what is needed to ring in the new year and kick out the return to work blues.

Catch them supporting ex-Gallows singer Frank Carter’s new outfit, Pure Love, on tour in February for a further dose of their potent indie pop tonic.

Words by Matt Marlow

Tip courtesy of Jeremy Lloyd from Laissez Faire Club