THE BALACLAVA MODELS - Paranoid CD-EP

One of Dundee's hottest young new bands provide us with the first fruits of the labours with a four-tracker that gives us a great example of their abilities, but those of us who have seen the band explode in a live concert setting will say that, good as these songs are, you still have to see them live to witness the power of the band in live action.. The EP starts with “Paranoid”, and right from the start you're rolling with the band as you get a band capable of producing a song with infectious rhythms, waves of verses on which you can sail with ease and a chorus that sticks in your head for hours after.. The guitar riffs away as the View-esque vocal provides the strength to the song as the rhythm section drives it forward with great crunch and addiction. The vocals are urgent and upfront, but with character, depth and distinction, while the guitar riffs away tastefully, as the lurching verses rise into strident choruses, the band mixing indie and ska with ease as the seemingly effortless joyride takes you along with it, the sort of song you'll be singing in your head ages after you've heard it. “Constructive Criticism” starts with strong bass as the guitars spirals in, the drums lurch away and the fast-paced vocal provides the verse with suitable bite and strength, but emotive, too, the accented sound absolutely perfect, as another strident song provides verse-as-chorus that you fall in love with from start to finish, the whole thing rolling along as you're listening to one of the finest songs The View never recorded, and that's a complement by the way. What works here is the band's simplicity of writing and arranging amounting to a sum that's much greater than the total of the individual components, a surefire sign that this band can write songs that are commercial winners for sure. “Dazed & Confused” is more urgent and anguished, as the clipped rhythms, roll along, bass right upfront and the guitar chiming away, splintering off at lead angles, as the song appears, says its peace, then ends, deliciously simple yet so effective. Finally, there's “Psycho”, another slice of urgency that is the sort of song that Dirty Wee Middens would have killed to have written, but instead of their Goth Horror treatment, what you have here is a mix of urgent indie and fast-paced ska as the biting vocals tell the tale on mesmerising verses and that memorable hook. The crisp, fast guitar riff leads into the briefest of lead breaks as the whole thing ends. Four superb examples that provide only a hint of the enormous potential of this band, a future that I'll be following with great interest.

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