Velvet Davenport - Warmy Girls (2010)

Supposedly built around the stories of twelve separate characters, Warmy Girls is an upbeat and unabashed homage to 1960s guitar pop. The opening track ‘Mystery Michael’ shimmers with lo-fi Kinks-esque charm, while ‘Triangle Pear’ is more akin to The Beach Boys, with its intelligent melodies and gentle harmonies. This surf-pop vibe is continued by tracks such as the naive ‘Run Faster Lady’ (one of the album’s highlights) and ‘Bonny Brooks’. The latter sees Parker Sprout singing “Blonde hair, blue eyes, Bonny Brooks oo-ooh”, a line that could have come straight from Brian Wilson’s mouth. Parker’s knack for penning wryly unassuming lyrics is evident throughout the album, from the Andy Partridge-like “Michael, won’t you sing another of your clever rhymes?” (‘Mystery Michael’) to “Oh please would you squeeze me a grapefruit, I would like to drink some more juice // Today I listened to Abbey Road and thought that it was so great, the whole way through” (‘John Errand Hair’).

DL