At The Lake - 'These Days' (Popfiction) Released 06/02/06

Hello, is this U2? You reported your 1980’s sound circa War is missing? We believe we may have found the culprits. It’s a group by the name of At The Lake, their debut single ‘These Days’ providing all the evidence we need. Who are they? To summarise, this London-based five-piece recently won the XFM Unsigned contest, and have since been praised by such indie rock connoisseurs as Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq. Excuse me? No, this case isn’t the first of its kind. Recently a celebrated quartet entitled Editors, whom these inland water dwellers also resemble, were locked in a studio with the Joy Division catalogue and firm instructions not to come out until they’d replicated it to the best of their abilities. Anyway, we have these At The Lake characters surrounded and will soon launch a raid to rescue each prominent bassline, frantic drumbeat, impassioned vocal yelp and ricocheting, effect-laden guitar note of your early sound. Sorry? No, ‘These Days’ is actually not bad at all despite a certain degree of plagiarism. A big dollop of energised vitality and sincere passion that doesn’t make you reach for the sick bag almost make up for its generic qualities. Almost.