The Electric Pop Group - Seconds (Matinee)

More? You want more of The Electric Pop Group's choral indiepop? Good job, because this long-awaited second album is finally out on Matinee.

My first encounter with this band came in 2008 (or was it 2007?) as I was lay prostrate on the bouncy castle on the air next to the main stage at Indietracks. I felt awful after a couple of idiots old enough to know better had kept half the camp site awake all night by pretending to be hilarious, pissing about on the kids playground all night.

I think it was 2007

The Electric Pop Group's brittle hymns helped me through that horrible afternoon, and nothing much has really changed. The production is better than on the first album, and so, perhaps, are the lyrics, but there's still that warm, fuzzy feeling you get after each song.

Musically, the bands spans the gap between Brighter or Harper Lee and the more visceral thrills of, to pick a random example out of the air, Another Sunny Day. See 'I Know I Will' for evidence of this.

Only vert rarely do things get truly glacial, like on 'Drawing Lines' or 'In the Back of My Mind', but more often than not they peddle the perfect mix of hazy melody and pure pop. 'My Only Inspiration', placed slap bang in the middle of the album is the very essence of this, and remains perhaps my favourite Electric Pop Group song.

For sure, you're not going to hear many of these songs at your local indiepop knees up, but for nights in during a cold winter, you'll struggle to find another album that'll keep you company as well.