Direct from possibly the coolest place on Earth I have yet to visit, Australia, comes Lancaster. They are a classic two guitars, bass, drums and vocals lineup with an EP that delivers four fine tracks that meander around the world of ‘80s and ‘90s Britpop with enough of their own style to keep it interesting.
My opinion on EPs is well known. I love the damn things. They force a band to really pick their strongest material, take away any notion of padding and most importantly it gives a new band a genuine chance to put out a really great product, without spending a fortune.
‘Bewilder Me’ opens with the title track, which despite being less than three minutes still manages to be a veritable textbook on how to construct the perfect slab of Britpop. It is a peach of a tune, all sing-along lyrics, uplifting guitars and shuffling rhythms. It starts the EP with a real bang, and is gone before you can even blink. It took me straight back to early nineties Britain and got me all nostalgic. For that alone I am in the debt of Lancaster.
After such an excellent start it would be a real struggle for any band to follow it. Lancaster avoid that particular danger by never again trying to go for anything that is so obviously a pure pop single. Track two is ‘Last Train Home’ a slower track that builds itself around the wonderful and geographically hard to pin down vocals of Rupert Gilbert (how many ‘Bear’ jokes did he have to put up with as a kid). It is a song that is satisfying but would benefit from a producer who could nail it down a little.
‘Spanish’ is the next tune. Again it takes a musical sidestep from what has come before it. Interesting guitar work from Andrew Haywood and Mark King lead around the much more upfront vocals of Mr. Gilbert. The rhythm section consists of Jamie Carruthers on Bass and Derrin Cason on drums. Is it just me or does half of this band sound like they should have been characters in a ‘60s spy show?
We slip back towards a simpler, sing-along slice of Britpop in the final track ‘When?’. It has the most interesting vocal patterns of the bunch, and has a very clean production that picks up some of the background guitar tricks without burying the vocals. It is also the track that best displays the vocal trickery the band is capable of.
‘Bewilder Me’ is a fine debut from a band with as much potential as the country they hail from. Start saving your pennies so you can see them on their first world tour. In the meantime I am going to see if I can get Gordon H Monkey to foot the bill for me to go to see them in Australia.

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