The Crookes

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I'm getting a bit sick of this 'chilled' phase that British music seems to be going through.
It was the quieter bands like The XX and Mumford & Sons who came away from Glastonbury with rave reviews. No one really seemed to 'rock' the festival because apparently all British music lovers want nowadays is delicate, folk, chilled, minimalisitic, slow, twingy-twangy or ballad-like.
No grit. No riotousness. Not even moderate toe-tapping.

So this discontent led me to fall carelessly in love with the first new band I heard who sounded remotely upbeat. Hello, The Crookes, How are you?#



Immediate judgements will scream 'Vampire Weekend!', but there's a lot more depth to this band than the emotionless quirkiness of VW. Coming from Sheffield yet straying away from the laddish sound now synonomous with the Yorkshire town, The Crookes are swooning romantics, with a 50s edge and Ba-Ba-Ba's that belong in a Grease production.
There's nothing archaic here, however. In the same way The Libertines pushed ideas of Albion and Arcadia, The Crookes are trying to lace the present music scene with the romanticism of the past.
On 'Bloodshot Days', Vocalist George Waites manages to mimick that low, rumbly emotional pull within his vocals that has worked so well for Alkaline Trio's Dan Adriano.
'Through the Cat's Whisker' is like that moment at the end of an indie disco when the slow songs come on and the pissheads dance together like the first dance at a wedding. And just when you thought they couldn't get any better, Waites sings "Loved you for your moves", which is the sort of humorous indie lyric that gets a thumbs up from me.

The band play Reading & Leeds Festival so I'll be sure to catch them then. Check them out on Myspace and Spotify.