Bricolage

So much indiepop is influenced by Orange Juice’s playful flamboyance, waspish lyrics and childlike melodrama; very little of it has been inspired by their adoption of Chic beats and 70s soul rhythms. Welcome, then, to Bricolage whose eponymous debut album reveals a band who sound like they know how Edwyn Collins felt when he sang “Remembering with deep regret/How we used to dance in the discotheque”.

Bricolage’s finest two singles to date, Footsteps and Turn U Over, were made firmly with the discotheque in mind and really do sound as if, like Orange Juice, they’ve taken their cues from Chic’s compulsive insistency and Buzzcocks' melodic bite.

This is what Franz Ferdinand would sound like without the studied art school veneer, or what the Arctic Monkeys would sound like if they weren’t quite so fuelled by oafish pub rock. Never mind looking good on the dancefloor, Bricolage would sound great on the nation’s dancefloors.

You can also hear the soulful torch-song grandeur of Vic Godard here; in the case of Plots Are For Cemetries, perhaps a little too much as it really does half-inch the melody and mood of Make Me Sad. And, yes, a legitimate complaint could be made about including all four singles from the past three years on this album, but, make no mistake, this is a very special collection.