The Lonely World of the Dudley Corporation

“Do re me assholes”. Full marks for funny and effective ways to open your debut album to Dudley Colley. The Dudley Corporation, or the Corpo if you’re feeling affectionate or have a remarkable grasp of breezy guitar pop.

On initial listens, all the good cards are held in the dynamics – clever sudden bursts of machine gun drumming from Joss Moorkens and raucously constructed arrangements from Colley and Pip Moore. The slow burners reveal themselves in time, most remarkably on ‘Quick’ – a delicate love songs lovingly arranged with a cello contribution from Alan Barr of The Delgados and soft impassioned vocals from Dudley. Unlike many other threesomes of their ilk, the Corpo know exactly how to merge humour with killer lines and dark pathos, unlike the contrived, meticulously studied wackiness that characterises one too many a young bunch of noiseniks.

The Lonely World Of The Dudley Corporation may have been committed to tape at the Chemikal Underground owned Chem 019 facility in Glasgow – a recording mecca for many a local band, but it’s as far removed from Glaswegian indie schmindie cliché as you can get. The Corpo world is as lovely as it is lonely – and a short spell of solitary confinement there will do you no harm.