Now and then

I'm all a bit unsure about the recent spate of indiepop reunions, to be honest. Some people go crazy over them, whereas I'd often like to leave things in a certain time and place, never to be ruined or rehabilitated.

The same can't be said, however, for hearing a newer band make music that reminds me of a certain time or place. No, because this I quite like. The Hillfields have done this to me again, you see, with their new ep 'Come Outside' (Underused Records), which, like last year's 'It'll Never Be the Same Aagin', has rekindled my love of this kind of classic, slightly doom-laden indiepop music. Again, The Hillfields have taken two parts Echo and the Bunnymen to one part Windmills to make the sort of deeply attractive music that, twenty years on from when it was my main hobby, could easily see me lighting the candles, locking myself away, and knocking back a bottle of Thunderbird again. My favourite is the spiky, zesty 'Talk Too Much', which shows that you can still be happy even when you're morose.


The Orchids, meanwhile, are back with their first single in yonks, and whilst it might not break any new ground, were you really expecting it to? 'She's My Girl' (Pebble Records) chimes along like you probably knew it would, but it's meaty enough not to get all lightweight. I'll be honest: when I saw The Orchids at Indietracks a couple of years ago I was bored rigid. They already sound on this single about a hundred times better than they did that afternoon, which saw me fall asleep on a bouncy castle. How's that for an endorsement?