'Allo Darlin' - 'Allo Darlin' (Fortuna Pop!)

It was exactly this time last year that I first heard Pocketbooks' 'Flight Paths' album, a record so rammed full of potential singles, that it felt like a greatest hit set. One year on, and 'Allo Darlin' have repeated the trick.

This debut album opens up with the double kiss on the lips of 'Dreaming' - a song which should be Fortuna Pop!'s next hit single - and 'The Polaroid Song', which was released late last year and didn't deserve to be lost on the Christmas rush. These two have been stuck in my head for weeks now, and it shows this band's confidence that they can whack out two of their best songs so early in the album.

Wonderfully, 'Heartbeat Chilli' from last year's now sold out 'Henry Rollins Don't Dance' ep is also included, and showcases Elizabeth's sunshines vocals perfectly.
Perhaps the most impressive track here is 'My Heart is a Drummer', which evokes 'We Love the City'-era Hefner and is genuinely SAD, and is perhaps the only time on the album where Elizabeth really lets her voice go on a song which is all about defiance. It's also got this amazing bouncy bassline that makes your legs go all bendy.

And that's followed up by 'What Will Be Will Be', a delightfully downbeat, autumnal love song which finishes this most fun of albums off on a slushy note. And I quite like that they've done that.

This album isn't out until June, but once you get it and the sun's out, you won't need much else. Apart from the Standard Fare record, of course...