Circa Waves have been providing fun, hook-driven indie-rock, to a generation in desperate need of it, since forming in 2013. They are four lads from Liverpool and they play brilliant, radio-friendly guitar tunes. Does it sound familiar? Yes. Does that matter? Certainly not. Their brand of Maccabees-meets-Merseybeat indie is simple and effective; catchy riffs, singalong choruses and songs about girls. It's the kind of unashamed, no-frills indie-rock which we've seen little of since the late 2000's and bands like The Pigeon Detectives and fellow scousers, The Wombats.
Standout single T-Shirt Weather is a joyous ode to summers passed. The lyrics are perhaps a little cliched (I remember T-shirt weather, I remember some days, we were singing our lungs out in the backseat together), and musically, it's fairly simple stuff, but the band's youthful enthusiasm is completely infectious and their hooks so memorable, you'll probably be singing along before the end of the second chorus.
Second single Stuck in My Teeth was deemed "Hottest Record in the World" by Zane Lowe, and it's easy to see why. A jaunty, slightly-distorted riff underpins this bright and lively track, whilst frontman Kieran Shudall sings about being "a little too young, with not enough time", a sentiment we can all relate to. Not just insightful lyricism, the chorus on this track is catchier than the common cold and is sure to be Stuck in Your Head, *ahem*, for weeks.
Released earlier this year, the Liverpudlian four-piece's debut album is packed full of feel-good, indie belters which would have gone toe-to-toe with any of the now almost-classic songs released by bands like The Kooks and The Pigeon Detectives, and it shouldn't be regarded as any lesser to them just because it was released the best part of a decade later. Young Chasers is not going to change the world, and it's probably not going to inspire the next Bob Dylan, but it's bloody good fun and in today's world of pretentious premadonnas and over-produced drivel, it's a breath of fresh air.
