THE MYSTERY GIRLS?-Hands Down CD-EP

If you judged them by the album, this is a cracking punk-rock band from West Lothian playing razor-sharp retro punk that wears its obvious influences on its sleeve. ON this new 4-track EP, they've developed this into a set of four great punk tracks but which are so darned memorable and enjoyable. The EP opens with “Cut To The Chase” where the backing moves with a scything swing as the lead vocal sounds like the guy out of The Stranglers while that cyclical guitar riff could have come from any number of classic late seventies UK punk anthems. The song is wrapped with added harmonies and an electrifying guitar break, added to the solid flow of the rhythm section and that Burnel-like bass thunder, provides us with enough meat to really get yer teeth into, but something that has you leaping about as much as listening with a wide smile on your face – its influences are obvious but it's so darned fantastic, for all that. In “Hands Down”, they've come up with a slightly less than three minute single which not only distils most of those late seventies UK punk influences into one track, but then on top of that, come up with something that's also anthemic, got the right shade of commercial on its side, produced well, paced just right to be punk yet you can also dance to it, a chorus that sits inside your head and refuses to let go and a spirit that's defiant as much as it is downright enjoyable. The vocals are thrust out, the guitar work upfront and shining, the drums nice and crunchy with a bass that rocks your head off – all in all, you just want to stick it on repeat and leave it there. “Profiteering” begins with lurching drumming as this buzz-saw of a guitar riff provides the background and another slice of statement-making, socially aware lyrical excellence gives us another wild song that is pure late seventies punk but with more punch, dynamics and invention, not to mention a hook that refuses to leave your head. “Talk Is Cheap”, even shorter, is more punk, less anthem, although, that said, it's got the necessary rough quality to it to make it a solid slice of mid-paced memorability, and when that guitar flares up, it goes up a notch. Overall, it's a blast from the past and a wave from the present at the same time, exceedingly enjoyable and something that puts a grin on your face every time you hear it.

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