I have been listening to another new CD, courtesy of Amazon’s ‘Vine’ programme.  Its a self-title debut album from The Virgins: a New York indie band who seem to be quite popular in France.  Here is what I thought of it:

There has been a bit of a buzz about this band from New York, with a common theme being comparisons to the Gang of Four.  Not sure about that: they sound more like they have been influenced by the bands who were influenced by GO4 (i.e. Franz Ferdinand, Futureheads) – but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

What we have here is some spikey quitars over some seriously funky basslines, vocals that sound a lot like Elvis Costello half the time, some archetypal 80′s keyboards thrown in on some tracks, and even the odd bit of Haircut 100-style sax  I can’t remember the last time a brand new album from a brand new band made me feel so nostalgic!

I like it .  The CD starts well with three strong indie-disco tracks.  The fourth is where the 80′s synths come in, although still a good track. Not so sure about track five (Fernando Pando).  I will need to hear it a few more times: its one of those stop/start, fast/slow songs.

Track six (Murder) is as eighties as shoulderpads and rolled up jacket sleeves, and maybe that’s why I really liked it immediately. The rest of the CD is in the same indie/funk vein right up to the annoying final track.

Not that the song is annoying. Its OK, its just that it is a three-minute song in a seven-minute track – followed by a couple of minutes of silence and than a few minutes of messing about. Not much fun when it is ripped to an mp3 player. I thought everybody had given up on these naff ‘hidden’ tracks ages ago.

Apart from that small gripe, I really enjoyed the album for its energy and its funky retro sound.

Here is a clip of them from a French TV show – they sound a lot more modern playing live than they do with the layers of extra production that the CD has.

And here is the official video for the single Rich Girls.