Remember when you were little? All that joy you found in just running around like an idiot? All hyper and bouncy and excitable? Well the Answering Machine do. Seriously, Ritalin was invented for these four Manc based indie popsters.
Coming on like The Wombats trying to out Maccabee the Maccabees there are no apologies made for this blast of high-tempo Radio 1 friendly wannabe chart hugging git-pop. Up beat kick drums are the order of the day along with plenty of addictive hooky guitars that only serve to highlight the near omnipresent "woo-oo-oos". 'Obviously Cold' is like a chicken nugget - far from haute cuisine and you know it's bad for you but still, you'll have another one cos well, it tastes good.
This kind of thing is far from everyone's switch flicker though - I imagine your average Radiohead fan would rather cheer up than listen to more than a bar of The Answering Machine, but that's okay, students will still be getting drunk to this come fresher's week next September.
Also included here is a cut down radio edit plus a James Yuill remix of Lightbulbs, a tune originally released on Regal back in '07. He's dug the Korg out and helped create a tasty little slice of Bloc Lite. Again there are endearing FM friendly hooks but singer Colclough's Kele-alike yelp is more prominent here amongst the blips. A decent, well harmonised and melodic track that you won't find yourself skipping to get back to the A side. The master volume came over a bit on the low side but that was okay, my stereo comes with a volume knob of its very own so bullet dodged.
Tidy work and with a debut album 'Another City, Another Story' also due out in June there's every chance you'll hear them trying to woo (woo-oooo) you from a festival stage this Summer. If you've had your Sunny D that day why not pretend you're a kid again - go along and have a bounce. I won't tell anyone, I promise.
Oh and for the record: 'Obviously Cold' is pretty warm actually.