DOLLS - 'Sugar Free'

The best song about not having Coke since Lola

In previous reviews, I've mentioned despite a lack of commercial interest the strength of the guitar music kicking around is phenomenal. DOLLS add themselves to the ever growing list of bands demanding their names being spelt in capitals by being as instantly catchy, edgy and angular as SHAME, IDLES et al. The difference is a gleaming pop sheen lacing their tracks like the "tin can made in a factory" they're lamenting about in this lead single from the upcoming "Pop the Bubble" EP. It's a fuzzy, fizzy grungey gem that's close to exploding out of the can.

Legendary Bad Seeds drummer Jim Sclavunos handles production duties as you would expect a Bad Seed would- space to breathe initially between the drums and the guitar allowing excess feedback to crawl into the mix as the tension of the song progresses slowly. And what a song. Delivered with the kind of sneering urgency that made Dream Wife so immediate, the song is laced with filthy guitar lines and armed with a phenomenal set of lyrics ("Pop is dead/the funeral made me cry awkwardly") that takes aim at our culture's unbelievable first world problems. The refrain of "pop the bubble" can be interpreted in many ways. It's either as nonsensical and earworm-y as the band disguise it as or it's a call to arms to embrace the wider issues of our society and to move away from being so self conscious. Either way, its a great sales pitch for the EP- there's no way you're not buying it after this.

Words by James Kitchen