Twentieth Century

On their second album, Swansea Sound present a set of songs as infectious as anything from their previous incarnations. The raw energy of Hue’s old band The Pooh Sticks is still there; the indie pop sugar rush of Amelia’s Heavenly is still as sweet as ever. But these songs are laced with venom and sardonic wit. In ‘Twentieth Century’, Swansea Sound take it a lot further, having a good look at the heroes of their youth – the fabled eras of rock, punk, post-punk, electro futurism – and considering whether the prophets that emerged from those scenes were of any use whatsoever. In ‘Paradise’, the electric synth-bleeps conjure up the dated futurism of the 1980s – with all its optimism about a digital nirvana. ‘Twentieth Century’, the title track, plays out the egotism of a punk rocker in combat gear, armed with a decent major label deal, singing (with less and less conviction) about revolution. But ‘Far Far Away’ is a pretty straightforward love song to Pete Shelley. ‘Markin’ It Down’ is a duet between Hue, a vinyl obsessive, and Amelia, the owner of a second-hand record shop. ‘Click It And Pay’ is a duet between a harassed home-worker doing some online shopping and the woman in the fulfilment warehouse who’s under pressure to pack his requisites