The Long Blondes - "Couples" (Rough Trade) Released 07/04/08

For a band that has a reputation of being a somewhat disappointing live spectacle, you have to hand it to The Long Blondes. The very sepia coloured wave of nostalgia on which they arrived in 2005 has carried the Sheffield band an awful long way in just two years. Their debut, ‘Someone To Drive You Home’ – which tenderly charted romance from a female perspective, despite all but two tracks being written by the group’s male guitarist, Dorian Cox – has, for an indie record, amassed rather impressive sales figures. Add to that The Long Blondes other, more instant attraction, their antique look, and you’ve got a winning combination. 

Indeed, you could argue that frontwoman Kate Jackson’s dress sense – of leopard prints and micro mini’s - has had a much greater impact on the fashion lines coming out of Topshop over the past 18-months than the chain’s rather more famous supermodel-cum-designer, Kate Moss. While, admittedly, her impression might not be so evident on the high street, you’d do well to avoid bumping into one of Jackson’s ‘mini-me’s’ exiting a Long Blondes gig.

However, as previous bands that have shot to fame thanks as much to their tailored image as their music have shown, this can create a problem when it comes to making an album again. After all, trends change. For The Long Blondes, the task has been made even harder by the fact that their 2006 debut was so deeply styled – both musically and lyrically - by an era that most of its listeners could only hear about from their parents. ‘Someone To Drive You Home’ wasn’t just an audio experience; it was a pretty bold history lesson as well.

It’s somewhat surprising then that just as their fans had settled into the time when man first stepped on the moon and cold war tensions were at boiling point, The Long Blondes have rather abruptly fast-forwarded proceedings. "Couples" could, in short, be classed as a concept album. Set in the now, it almost exclusively addresses the relationships between lovers and friends – both recklessly ongoing (‘Round The Hairpin’) and approaching the bitter end (‘Here Comes The Serious Bit’). The only obvious acknowledgement to the past comes from the title itself, which adopts quotation marks in honour of releases from David Bowie and Adam and the Ants.

The first taste of what The Long Blondes define, complete with capitals, as “the SHOCK of the NEW”, is comeback single, ‘Century’. Also the album’s opener, it’s the kind of haunting disco-pop perfection that suggests The Long Blondes have been championing the wrong era all along. The lazy trebled-out guitars of their debut are nowhere to be seen as producer Erol Alkan adds warped synths to Jackson’s vocal attempt to usurp Madonna from her position as queen of pop. It’s a fantastically bold move; but one that sadly over the following nine tracks rarely bares the same results.