Those Dancing Days – Daydreams and Nightmares

 

After buying their first and second albums together last year, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to listening to the latter ‘Daydreams and Nightmares’ due to the fact that ‘In their Space Hero Suits’ was distinctly average. But fear not! The second album from Those Dancing Days sees them progress from luke warm promise into a scorching blossoming of talent.

This is a jolly sing-a-long bunch of songs with much better use made of singer Linnea Jönsson’s distinctive voice. It’s a meaty collection with catchy tunes, agreeable melodies and soaring choruses. Ignore the hype, this is nothing like Northern Soul or sixties girl groups and has more in common with the alternative pop of the Flatmates, Sons and Daughters or the Primitives, although it has to be said, with a more soulful vocalist.

The pick of the tracks are the high octane charge of ‘Fuckarias’, the anthem to stalking ‘I know where you live’ and best of all, the carefully crafted pop perfection of ‘Reaching Forward’. Admittedly there’s a few average numbers thrown into the mixer, but the overall its positives by far outweigh the odd smattering of samey-ness.

Sadly the band has been ‘put to bed for a while’. Let’s hope they wake up soon as they were just starting to fulfil their potential.