Who Killed...The Zutons?

Beefheart worshipping Scousers with a penchant for skiffle-ridden pop, where have we heard that before? The Zutons follow the recent tradition of Liverpudlian weird-niks (step forward the Coral and the Bandits) who have started to worry the charts with their unique brand of cosmic indie.

‘Who Killed The Zutons?’, the debut album from the Zutons, is, thankfully, a leap forward from the usual wares of their Scouse brethren. Although the basic stoned-shuffles are still apparent the Zutons manage to combine it with a consistent pop sensibility that has only been briefly glimpsed on albums by their peers.

Their triumphant anthem ‘Zuton Fever’ kicks of proceedings to magnificent effect and is followed by a duo of sublime singles in ‘Pressure Point’ and ‘You Will You Won’t’. You could expect it to go down hill from there but the Zutons manage to sustain the pace of their early promise with an entire album’s worth of corking tunes. ‘Havana Gang Brawl’ is reminiscent of Space when they were still good, ‘Remember Me’ is a Boo Radley’s-esque jaunt that should become the soundtrack of the Summer and ‘Dirty Dancehall’ gurgles menacingly with threatening bass and disjointed sax brilliance.

‘Who Killed The Zutons?’ is quite possibly the best debut album to arrive from Liverpool since the La’s proved there was more to the city than Lennon and McCartney. Energetic, inventive and constantly surprising, this is destined to be one of the albums of the year.