Forget Romance Let’s Dance

Ah yes. A band that knows what it’s at. We Should Be Dead are working off a carefully chosen stylistic basis – it’s the bubble-gum pop, girl-band template which typically falls somewhere between the Shangri-Las and The Ramones. When two boys and two girls from Limerick attempt to appropriate this sound, the results fall somewhere between the Long Blondes and Sleater Kinney, but We Should Be Dead are much more ‘poptastic’ than that suggests. These are highly accessible, superbly structured ‘girl-meets boy/boy is a silly bastard’ songs played by a band which has clearly been studying how to deploy catchy winding melodies within the classic four-piece format. Additionally, singer Tara has the steel in her voice which lets her hold her own against the blaring rock n’roll backing. Occasionally, the album threatens to get a bit repetitive, but there are enough stand out tracks to keep bringing the listener back, including ‘My Good Influence’ (which has a great melody) and ‘Playback’ (distinguished by a dazzling synth sound), not to mention the single ‘Forget Romance Let’s Dance’, which is apparently something of radio hit (and a thoroughly deserved one it is too). Although, the album’s got a strange title considering most of the songs here make me want to dance and kiss girls. But that’s what good pop music is meant to be all about, goddamnit.