Newcastle, Australia
I spent most of last Friday in my strange, cigarette-scented hangover mood, the kind of mood I like to think only people around my age or so can get away with: cataloguing the shadowy, smoky flashes of memory that my battered brain managed to grab onto, still taking a little bratty pride in how late I was out, and prone to sudden attacks of undergraduate Ennui-with-a-capital-E that leave me slumped in my chair, tired of the afternoon.

Actually, I wasn't really that trashed last Thursday (despite what the photos might imply), and I spent most of Friday at uni, watching films and having coffee with a mate and generally bludging/nerding out. But whoring around the Unearthed website that evening I came across Lover, and with "Never" and "She Knows Better" in my head I was overcome with the kind of mind-fug that takes hold after a huge, grimy night out. Club-hopping. Vodka-inhaling. Dancing with random people who smell strangely appealing underneath the sweat and whatever they're drinking. Yelling your order at the barman over the guitar that grinds into your ears. Wandering home alone at six or so, singing Cure lyrics under your breath, dirty fingers wrapped around the neck of the beer that the doorman let you take outside because he just wanted to be shot of you. Trying to tightrope your steps along the curb. Wondering why the only person you really wanted to see didn't come out.

Amongst some really impressive talent on the website, Lover stand out (and not just because their name makes people calling themselves things like Surrogate Turnip look like right twats). Amongst the crushing avalanche of asymmetrically-coiffed New Wavey electro-pop acts jerking about local stages, Lover still stand out. Not because they're doing anything that groundbreaking - bands in the vein of The Automatic, Editors or a male-fronted Yeah Yeah Yeahs are impossible not to reference - but because they do this sound really well. In the space of two songs, they establish themselves as the bratty younger brothers of Expatriate and the Red Riders; the catchy tunes and denim-tight energy don't so much hint at as guarantee a cracking live show. Next time the Novocastrian trio play down here, I will be front and centre, singing along and trying not to think about the next morning.

Lover - Never.mp3
Lover - She Knows Better.mp3
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