Listen And Learn

While "screaming" might be a bit harsh to describe the collective singing style of the four Diver sisters, the Orphans certainly don't believe in holding back on the vocal histrionics. In other words, if it's rousing choruses and soaring melodies you want, with all manner of appropriately-timed whoops and hollers thrown into the mix, you've come to the right place. Take the opening cut, 'Thank You', a recent single and a good example of what the Screaming Orphans do best. Lending a whole new meaning to the term "up-tempo" it makes Dexy's Midnight Runners' 'Come On Eileen' sound like a maudlin ballad in comparison. The same goes for 'Little Affair' the song that first introduced the Donegal-based siblings to audiences when it was released last year as their debut single.

They exercise a tad more restraint on relatively slow burning songs such as the Corrs-like 'Unsolved Mystery' and plaintive 'Road To Nowhere' (not the Talking Heads song of the same name) though the latter eventually builds into an ear-splitting vocal crescendo.

The mid-paced 'Against The Wall' boasts some nifty guitar/mandolin interplay and a strong story line to boot, while the title track (a definite highlight) almost veers towards new-wavey power-pop, albeit one with a trad twist.

With production from Mike Hedges (Manics, Travis, Texas), Listen And Learn is as good a debut as anyone could possibly expect from this promising sister act.

Effervescent!