The last time I heard any kind of news about Lucky Soul’s follow-up to their 2007 debut, The Great Unwanted, was back in March of last year.  The band released a downloadable MP3 for the first single “Woah Billy!” to coincide with the news of the upcoming record, so I figured we would probably see something before the year ended.  Fast-forward to today and we’re still waiting for A Coming of Age to grace us with it’s presence.  Thankfully, that day is quickly approaching as we can expect the Ruffa Lane release to be out sometime in March.

To make the wait a little easier, a new video has surfaced for a track called “White Russian Doll” and from the looks of it, seems to borrow a similar “on the fly” filming approach that Camera Obscura’s great “French Navy” video showcased so effortlessly.  So far, it looks like Lucky Soul is well on their way to avoiding the sophomore slump, as everything I’ve heard so far has been excellent.

You can order the new single from iTunes.

MP3: Lucky Soul :: “Woah Billy!”

Talk about starting off the week in the best way possible, as the brand new single from Lucky Soul has been released.  The London five-piece has been hard at work for months on the follow-up to one of my favourite debuts of the last couple of years, The Great Unwanted, so it’s great to hear what they have in store for us.

The still yet to be officially titled record, is due out sometime in the early summer on Ruffa Lane, but this single called “Whoa Billy” lets us know that the band’s lovely take on 60’s doo-wop and Motown seems to be delightfully intact.  Of course, I absolutely love this single, and listening Ali Howard take her vocals to these heightened levels of gleeful emotion just melts my heart to no end.  Bands like this always tend to bring out the cheesiness in my writing, but it’s just something that cannot be helped.

If you’re curious to learn more about Lucky Soul, definitely check out my initial post on them from a little over a year ago.  There’s even an old segment on Blog Fresh Radio (haven’t done one of those in forever) where I talked a little bit about the band as well.  The latter, though, you’ll have to comb through their archvies and find for yourself.

MP3: Lucky Soul :: “Whoa Billy”

Let me introduce you to Lucky Soul, a lovely six-piece straight out of London that are here to steal your hearts and command your attention with their superb debut record The Great Unwanted. I wanted to mentioned them for the longest time, but I just didn’t know how I could describe how much I love this album. I’ve been literally playing this every single day, and I can’t help but have this smile across my face every time as every song is just pure pop perfection as far as i’m concerned. There is not a single weak track on this gem, and everytime I happen to play it i’m almost hoping it never ends.

Upon first listening, you’ll notice something that seems very familiar with a sound reminiscent of 60’s doo-wop and Motown, but just feels modern and fresh with simple arrangements that boasts such a grand sound. I’m sure most will say “Hey this sounds like The Pipettes” which is sort of true (to a degree), but this is an actual band with a more classic sound and not some girl group revival. Of course what makes this entire album work are the vocals of lone female member Ali Howard. Her voice is so cute that it’ll make you sick to your stomach, but she comes out swinging as every track is filled with catchy pop hooks while she sings with such confidence and gleeful emotion that you can’t help but helplessly sing along with her. I haven’t even gotten to the actual music yet as this has such a polished pop sound, as at times it almost feels like you’re listening to a complete orchestra as the backing band.

In a perfect world, any of these songs would be at the forefront any top singles chart or radio play, but you just don’t hear a lot of music like this anymore, which is a shame. For now though, just enjoy that it’s here for the time being. I haven’t heard a better pop album offering than The Great Unwanted so far this year, so get in on this great band right now as their debut was just released this week in the U.K. There is no word yet on any U.S. release, but hopefully we’ll see this come our way soon enough. Many thanks to Matt at Skatterbrain for turning me on to this band. Seriously, visit his blog cos he has probably the best taste in indie-pop on the internet.
myspace / website / buy
Lucky Soul | “The Great Unwanted”
Lucky Soul | “Lips Are Unhappy”