Here is a band totally uninhibited about their love of a zinging pop hook, in fact they positively let that urge run wild on this new – all too short but undoubtedly leaving me wanting more – six track mini-album released on the wonderful Enigmatic Brunch label. The thing about pop, especially the kind of guitar pop we have here, one that references new wave and skater punk but then goes deeper into the realms of giddy psychedelia and multi coloured freakbeat, is that it has to be immediate. Well, you can tick that box off right away, I took one listen to ‘Against All Opps’ (got to love a Phil Collins referencing album title pun, haven’t you?) and right off the bat was convinced I had stumbled upon one of America’s best kept secrets. All these songs get in and get the job done on first exposure, they are short sharp punches to the earlobe and the brain because, and here is the best bit, they all still stand up to closer immersion and, more than that, enhance with a more deliberate listen. The opener ‘You Don’t Trend’ is a textbook example of what I am describing. The briefest of intros and away we go, divebombing into a punk pop nugget built on the classic verses to ear candy chorus mould and that vocal, with all its 21^st century buzz words delivered like a hot slice of prime bitchiness. But let those words sink in a little, bask in the skinny-jean guitar solo before staring deeper into those sneering vocals, and it is hard not to conclude that ‘You Don’t Trend’ is actually a precise take-down of modern social tropes and shallow values, with all the vacuousness that entails taking a tumble with it.

It turns out The Creepy Jingles are not so new to others as they are to me, they have previously been a Kansas based four-piece built around the acid witted, lyrical songwriting of Jocelyn Olivia Nixon. They had previously announced themselves with the album ‘Take Me At My Wordplay’ but this new release, arriving hot on the heels of previous album ‘Washed Up,’ finds Nixon with a lightly refreshed and re-shuffled pack of musicians alongside. Maybe that explains the need for a speedy new release from this latest configuration, and if that is the motivation then playing this record more than justifies the exercise. Much is made of the humour, bite and imaginative wordplay Jocelyn deploys but with a band tearing into tune packed, riff heavy and ear worm worthy song constructs, you are being dealt a double whammy of mind and muscle in every song. ‘Stay High’ is a song that gallops into view atop the most irresistible of descending riffs and as the repeated chorus line song title circles us, staying high on this delight is pretty much the only option available. The self-assuredness in the lyric is a declaration that suggests, between the lines, this band know how great they can be. “You can’t hold me down or cop my sound, break my brain, derail my train. Stay high.”

That same confidence is explicitly stated in ‘I Don’t Need A Thing From You,’ a song with the energy and mocking aggression that used to be food and drink to Elvis Colstello and The Attractions, which might just be a reference point in my head thanks to the tracks fruity Farfisa echoing keyboard sound played by Gailen Gillespie. ‘Throw Me In Some Rice’ is where things really fly out of their lane. There is so much going on here that I should merely say go and listen to it; there are mellotron sounds, flute-like spinning textures, dramatic bass breakdowns and a moment where the drum kicks a fill, as the band fall away, that conjures thoughts of the timeless wall-of-sound production. The key to it all though is a brilliant song, a bittersweet lament fired from aching verses and a heavy-duty resolution accompanying a lyric which might be about letting your guard down but then again, the way Jocelyn paints lyrical pictures in all these songs, leaving them open to multiple interpretations, is the sign of a serious talent. As we enter the closing brace of tracks there is no slowing the eclectic range on display, ‘Funhouse Mirror’ is an Americana leaning scuzz bath (superb) leading to ‘Nu Fables’ which, with the “you don’t rock with my friends” repeat, resolutely delivers a genuine sing-along worthy moment for the Creepy Jingles audience to sink their teeth into. Jocelyn may expect all the cool kids to be rolling their eyelids now, but I don’t find it too hard to imagine an ever-expanding audience embracing this band and throwing masses of love and respect their way. On this evidence, The Creepy Jingles not only feel ready to make the leap, but they also sound thoroughly deserving.

Danny Neill

You can get a copy of the new Creepy Jingles mini-LP via this link: https://enigmaticbrunchrecords.bandcamp.com/