Standard Fare "The Noyelle Beat"

Twenty years ago, Standard Fare would’ve been called indie and their debut album would’ve easily shifted several thousand copies. Today, indie’s split into so many micro genres that it’s hard to say where they fit, but given the magnificence of debut album The Noyelle Beat, everyone's going to claim them as their own.

Opening with the crashing guitars and wringing lyrics of Love Doesn’t Just Stop (“how can it not be me when I was all you had?”) which combines student disco anthem with bedsit angst, Standard Fare set the pace for a maelstrom of frenzied pop-rock and intemperate passions. Philadelphia shows their ambitious range, addressing poverty, sexual frustration, religion and global warming in three-and-a-half minutes.

Twenty years ago, Standard Fare would’ve been called college rock in the USA. They’re going to SXSW this month, where their intelligent yet unpretentious and well-crafted yet punchy songs might catapult them to a bigger stage.

Seeing as how at their London gig last week, bassist/vocalist Emma Kupa suffixed Fifteen’s bittersweet compunction of ephebophilia with “nothing happened”, they’re getting ready for deserved mass attention this year.