*Tap, tap* Is this thing working? One, two, one, two. “When you were yooooouuuung…”
There’s something in the air. Music goes in cycles, doesn’t it? I’m hoping you’ve got some evidence, because I’m whistling in the wind here. Strikes me, though, that the ’91 feeling is abroad, that Balearic’s back, that everything from rock to dance and all grimy stop-offs in between is daubed in pop, in that cred-shedding musical vernacular that makes all good records sound like hits.
Little Boots is exercising her sunny beats just as Saint Etienne are once more hawking Foxbase Alpha around to anyone who’ll listen – mainly 36 year olds who were there the first time, but perhaps a few Boots fans will jump on board too. Victoria Hesketh (er, yeah, Little Boots) is a lovely breathy singer like Sarah Cracknell, a cooing frontwoman for some capital dance-pop grooves and a poster-girl-in-waiting for the shy end of the indie boy spectrum. It’s a link of sorts!
Junior’s no shy indie boy, but she’s sweet on Victoria: “I love her singing, I love the picture.” There’s a story behind Saint Etienne, however, and she wants to hear about how she “saw” them at Koko a few weeks before she was, erm, born. “Was I dancing in Mummy’s tummy?” I rather think she was.
New In Town:
Only Love Can Break Your Heart:
Jukebox Junior 
I was quite prepared to dislike this because of the crazy notion that only Neil Young’s whine could carry it off but it really works, doesn’t it? And it’s a great story about Junior. After listening to this I searched for a YouTube of Young and then found the Corrs’ version. That is just plain wrong.
Funnily enough, I’m going to the Shepherd’s Bush gig in my role as a 36 year-old WWTTFT.
Hello kids. I’m back. A Corrs version, “footling”? I’m not sure I’m even curious enough. But yeah, I think the SE effort really does work – for a start it’s not got Neil Young on it.
TBE – whippersnapper.