Isn’t it jolly lovely that various English heritage brands have been jumping on the music scene and giving a platform for some emerging talent. Previously Burberry has acoustic sets galore, but next in line is Lyle and Scott, who are getting in on the action with a series of gigs at uber trendy XOYO. Last Thursday we popped by to check what delights were on offer.

I Only Date Models were first up with their pretty little faces and commercially friendly brand of pop-rock. Think a little bit like if the Lost Prophets and Snow Patrol had a love child, which may initially seem questionable so you can decide if this is a good/bad thing (link above).

The token northerners came in the form of electro-pop five piece, May68, displaying a pleasant array of heavy synth riffs and tight bass hooks, yet perhaps giving a sense of ground previously covered. Probably best summed up by some guy by the bar - “bit like The Gossip if Beth Ditto decided to pass on the cake.”

We did however fully fall for Clock Opera and their heartfelt form of indie-electronica mash up. You may have previously seen Guy Connelly fronting The Corrections/The Fallout Trust, but Clock Opera sees Connelly finally firing up a storm with finely chopped samples layered with vocal harmonies, chunky synth and occasional cutlery-on-kettle beats. There are obvious parallels with Steve Reich-style loops and phasing patterns which are nicely brought together in this intricately woven package. We look forward to hearing more from them asap! For now though, they are just teasing us with THIS little gem

Lesley Acheson