Me & The Moon EP

Few new Irish bands arrive as seemingly perfectly formed as The Rags. Everything about the package that surrounds their debut suggests that they’ve got their act seriously together, not least the music itself. The title track moves from a Roses-style groove into a high paced chorus, complete with swooping harmonies; ‘Stolen Car’ has a pop at the destructive hard man culture that permeates so many parts of the country while ‘Model Citizen’ builds on a deft guitar riff to dream of a life beyond the humdrum. Only on ‘Beats’ do they falter slightly, trying to overreach themselves with electronic rhythms and production and ending up sounding too like Muse for comfort. These are early days, though, and on this showing we might have a real little wonder on our hands.