What have we here? A five piece band from Ayrshire called The Standards that apparently does both originals and covers which, of course, makes their name amusingly ironic. Anyway, onwards to their “Barely Legal” EP.
You get three originals songs here that draw heavily from the past but do so in a – I’ve been waiting a while to use this adjective – jaunty way. Upbeat to the point of forcing a smile on to the most ill-tempered of us, “Butcher Girl” sounds like Eddie and The Hot Rods reborn as a jolly macaroon bar with a song in its heart. “Blue Today” acquires something resembling a Beatles riff by the back door to enhance its theme tune to a sitcom potential while “Come On Now” does sound overly familiar but is handled in an endearingly bouncy way.
With this EP, The Standards seems to have set out to prove their pop sensibilities. It is pleasing to note that they have succeeded.