If these were civilised times then Model Village would be venerated. Their album “A Solution To Everything” is a civilised example of English pop music that draws something from both folk music and the oft maligned wonderland of mainstream pop.
However, the songs here are much more than marginalised occupiers of a disgraced genre. For a start, Model Village do harmonies and they do arrangements – there’s an old fashioned concept for you – and that gives them a polish that lifts them out of the ordinary. Time to pick out a few songs for special praise. “Harder and Harder” sounds like the kind of song that should have belonged to some mainstream, and successful mainstream at that, pop band of the seventies. “Tiny Hands” possesses both poise and elegance with the female lead vocal being truly convincing in selling that song to soon to be friendly ears and “2003” is sing-along in its straightforward commerciality.
An album that features actual songs assembled with care and affection is not a common occurrence these days but Model Village have one here. If I were in the habit of drinking then I would raise a glass to that. That’s right, I am so I will.