On their MySpace page, The Aftermath lay claim to The Fall and Pavement as influences. Listening to their debut album you would, however, be hard pushed to draw a connection between those bands’ shambolic art-punk and this Anglo-Irish quartet’s twist on guitar pop.
Opening track ‘Are You Not Wanting Me Yet?’ is typical of the LP – it begins promisingly, borrowing the spiraling lead riff from Supergrass’ ‘Grace’, before plunging headlong into a melodramatic chorus, unnecessarily grandiose in its delivery. Indeed the record is frequently bogged down with sheer bombast. Quite a few cuts work to a self-consciously anthemic crescendo (‘Need’) or a sub-Britpop percussive stomp (‘Hollywood Remake’), while ‘Northern Lingerie’ is a not entirely successful shot at a third-person character study, the sort of thing Alex Turner and cohorts boxed off long ago.
Still, ‘Dejection’ wears its subtle Elastica-like charm well and the sparsely arranged ‘Overlooking Paris’, on which Johnny Cronin’s gruff baritone offers more grit than all the other tracks combined, is a real treasure. It’s heartening to hear the band take flight as soon as they seem to stop trying so hard – which leads to perhaps the biggest contradiction of all. If they manage to lose the over-ambition, The Aftermath could go far.

Key Track: ‘Overlooking Paris’