The Answering Machine – ‘Silent Hotels’

Brought together through a mutual love of Scandinavian guitar bands and Brendan Benson, The Answering Machine are already doing their best to answer summer calls for a playful indie-pop anthem. Having already made ripples with the Strokes-a-like ‘Oklahoma’, ‘Silent Hotels’ repeats the trick with its sparkling guitars, synthetic drum beat and joyous harmonies. Those angular guitars still pepper the band’s sound of course, but with a bouncing bass-line and vocalist Martin’s chirpy Northern tones, ‘Silent Hotels’ remains more indebted to the streets of Manchester than NYC. And that’s a good thing.

Released 18/06/07 on High Voltage Records