All Tvvins
llVV
(Warner Bros)
Three and a half stars
Irish indie upstarts All Tvvins make a late entry into the contest for feel-good record of the summer with this relentlessly head-nodding, deceptively smart debut LP.
Formed less than two years ago, the band features two veterans of Dublin's alternative scene – and it shows. llVV exhumes the sense of contently calculated compromise that can only come with experience.
In their previous lives, bassist and vocalist Conor Adams was lead singer and guitarist with cerebral maths-rock outfit The Cast of Cheers, while Lar Kaye was a driving force in the out-there instrumental rock experimentalists band Adebisi Shank.
This album, then, is the sound of two restless spirits curbing their inner muso in favour of crafting upbeat pop ditties – two guys who hit 30 and decided to give that thing called fame one last chance, before signing up for a day job.
It is a thrilling juxtaposition. With deeper pleasures and greater complexities hidden beneath chirpy melodies and big-hearted hooks, llVV is a record that both grabs the attention and sustains it over repeated listens.
Driven by a fidgety, infectious hook, last year's debut single, Thank You, is still a strong calling card. The frenetically retro-synth daze of The Call explodes into a beautiful, chiming guitar passage, grounding and grooving in equal portions.
The tempo rarely dips – most evident on the sweaty plod of second single Too Young to Live, a sultry bass-driven vamp that gives Kaye scope to stretch out with scratchy, staccato attacks and breezy harmonics alike.
Intensely focused and clearly the result of studious self-editing, only one of the 10 tracks breaks the four-minute mark – these jitteringly tight arrangements are crammed to bursting point with musical ideas.
Most inclusive is the stabbing, synth-flavoured Darkest Ocean – another single, which will be familiar to gamers from the soundtrack of Fifa 2016.
Indeed, as is often the way with debut albums, much of the material – in this case, the best bits, which include their four singles to date – will already be known to followers of the band.
In addition, anyone who caught the band’s gig at Dubai’s Lock, Stock & Barrel in March, will recall the bulk of these All Tvvins choruses – although the group of rowdy youngsters who peppered the anthemic album and set-closer Unbelievable with percussive “heys” will be sad to hear the band failed to incorporate that on the recorded version, as promised from the stage.
rgarratt@thenational.ae