Album: Cajun Dance Party, The Colourful Life (XL)

“Pick up the pace and enjoy the race,” suggest Cajun Dance Party on the title-track of their debut album, and it's obviously advice that they have taken to heart.

Brimful of skittering, light-headed charm, with sleek but subtle strings buoying the riffing guitars, it sets just the right mood of elevated optimism, one continued elsewhere in lines such as “the sun will rise, even if you don't happen to be there”.

This philosophical assertion is central to “The Race”, where their blend of inquisitive eclecticism and euphoric rock surge recalls The Coral. “No Joanna”, by contrast, is built around gentle, bluesy arpeggios.

Tautly produced by Bernard Butler, with the minimum of distractions cluttering up the quintet’s melodic core, The Colourful Life is an impressive, enthusiastic start to a potentially colourful career.

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