Hold Fast

For a band as independently minded as The Crookes (signed to Fierce Panda, everything recorded in a cupboard), the Sheffield lot sound oddly careerist on their second album. ‘Hold On’ boasts Persil-clean, high-street indie full of Two Door guitars (‘Afterglow’) and Inbetweeners-soundtrack-style janglers (‘Hold Fast’). They’re all decent, but the songs lack a bit of depth until the Buckley-ish ‘Sal Paradise’ lands. Therefore we can’t quite forgive lyrics such as “You’re the perfect second best” (‘Maybe In The Dark’) and “I’ve never been one for a cliché, but I wanna dance with you in the rain” (‘Sofie’), which are enough to make any sixth-form poet choke on their disposable biro.