Gay Dad - Leisure Noise

****

(London)

Review: Russell Baillie

Gay Dad might be dismissed as just the latest amusingly-named, hyped-up signing to the moribund Britpop team but as their debut album shows, they waft neatly above the genre.

Theirs is a hearty, arty pop where the retro-fitted sound and reference-heavy writing of frontman Cliff Jones doesn't over-burden his band's sheer vitality. Among their older contemporaries they suggest a mix of Supergrass (pop verve) and Suede (glam-rock loucheness).

Leisure Noise is a cracking mix of terrace-friendly choruses among the rockier numbers (the aptly exuberant Joy!, the worryingly ELO-like Different Kind of Blue), swirling dreampop (Black Ghost) and robust balladry (the initially Lennonesque Jesus Christ which turns into Primal Scream-goes-gospel).

Quite possibly the Britpop debut of the year - but don't let that put you off.