Tim Brown and Donna McKean have made music as Lunchbox for a long time but it's likely that their newest, After School Special, will be the one that breaks them to a whole lot of new fans. The Slumberland Records release, out Friday, brims with the kind of jangle-pop that indicates the players have been listening to the right records, and that they know how to be influenced by them, and put that into action. It is another in a string of superb releases on this label as of late, and one of the records that makes me happiest when I play it this year.
While bits of this have the sort of vibe that we'd expect from a band on Slumberland, there's lots here that surprises a bit, like The Wannadies-echoing "Over Way Too Soon", or the peppy "Gary of the Academy" with its horn bursts from Gary Olson (The Ladybug Transistor) and Jeremy Goody. The number is closer to The Cardigans than The Cardiacs, but it's a really superb pop composition, as is "Hide and Seek", an offering that has a very Velocity Girl feel to it, if you ask me, even as it sounds as if Lunchbox are imagining VG marrying their style to the rough hooks of an early Stereolab side. This style comes to a peak on "Melt into Air", a buzzing gem awash with cymbals, heavy beats, and an absolutely killer bass-line.
There's a whole lot going on here in these brief songs. In that sense, Lunchbox join label-mates Tony Molina and Young Guv for having both a fascination with classic power-pop, and a real facilitation at constructing, de-constructing, and re-constructing that form. For all that feels familiar throughout this album, there's some spark that's new, some really youthful vibe that shines through. It's the kind of thing that makes After School Special an absolute joy to listen to, and the sort of thing that can, for a brief period, remove the worries of the outside world, and lift a music fan's spirits a bit.
After School Special is out on Friday via Slumberland Records.
More details on Lunchbox via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Lunchbox]