A Place In The Sun

Crashing guitars and nice melody lines abound here, as Lit become the latest American power poppers to pound their way across the Atlantic and into the charts. Brothers Jeremy and A. Jay Popoff, along with Allen Shellenberger and Kevin Baldes, are probably already familiar to you thanks to their catchy current seven-inch, 'My Own Worst Enemy'. On the strength of A Place In The Sun, they'll notch up a couple more hit singles before the summer's out.

True, they don't exactly deviate from prototype but the bog standard punk workout of 'No Big Thing' aside, they prove themselves adept purveyors of the genre, with a sense of humour to boot.

"You make me come/ You make me complete/ You make me completely miserable" is the touching refrain on the excellent 'Miserable', which proves that it is possible to be funny and write good pop songs at the same time.

'Down' sees A. Jay waxing lyrical about the joys of his car and the perils of parallel parking, a brass section livens up the wonderfully dumb 'Happy' (dragging them into the same solar system as Rocket From The Crypt), while opening track 'Four' and the penultimate 'The Best Is Yet To Come Undone' are surely singles waiting to happen.

A Place In The Sun is not going to change your life, but it's got a handful of genuinely inspired moments.