Indies Of The World: A Brief Review Of The Debut Album From Swansea Sound (Heavenly, The Pooh Sticks)

What a delight this record is! Live at the Rum Puncheon is the long-awaited debut full-length from Swansea Sound. Following on from a few cheeky singles, this album delivers more smart pop, and plenty of DIY delights. The talents of Amelia Fletcher (Heavenly, Talulah Gosh), Rob Pursey (Heavenly), Ian Button (Thrashing Doves), and Hue Williams (The Pooh Sticks) combine here in splendid fashion.

"I Sold My Soul on eBay" and "Corporate Indie Band" are pointed barbs, and damn catchy numbers, and they sort of provide the focus here on Live at the Rum Puncheon, but it's the straightforward tunes that might win your heart first. "I'm OK When You're Around", for example, is a charming bit of business, and a catchy one at that. Elsewhere, "Let It Happen" strides forward on a direct melody that owes a bit to The Kinks, as far as these ears are concerned. The cut recalls the better indie of years past too, like stuff that any number of Amerlia's bands offered up, or even a lost classic from Comet Gain.

It should be apparent now that the sound of Swansea Sound is that of two alternating purposes. For every number here that's smart and wry, there's another that's more heartfelt and simple. It's that dichotomy that gives this so much power to please, and what makes Live at the Rum Puncheon work so well. For every bit that one can pin down to The Pooh Sticks leader, for example, there's likely another that's something only Amelia Fletcher could bring forward. There's elegance here, and a brashness that's positively exhilirating in others, as we hear our beloved DIY indie updated for a new century. That so much of this, like "Rock N Roll Void", sounds full of fire is reassuring. "Indies of the World" indeed, but so much of this punches (no pun intended, I think) far above its weight class that it's refreshing to be reminded again at how durable our beloved genre is, even in the grim year of 2021.

Live at the Rum Puncheon is out on Friday via various labels, but you can get it via the link below.

The listening party for Live at the Rum Puncheon is on Saturday via this link.

More details on Swansea Sound via the band's Facebook page.

[Photo: Swansea Sound Facebook]