For fans of gushy, starry-eyed, rock-your-tambourines-off, girl group-inspired indie pop goodness, it really doesn't get much better than this.
The School's debut EP,
Let It Slip, is a perfect balance of sugary pop hooks, goopy instrumentation (sparkly synthesizers, squinchy trumpet solos -- you get the idea), and lead singer
Liz Hunt's fuzzy-wuzzy yet ever-so-slightly deadpan vocals. Comparisons to
Camera Obscura and
Saturday Looks Good to Me are inevitable -- what sets the School apart from the indie pop pack probably has more to do with
Hunt's skill as a vocalist than anything else. Like
Camera Obscura's
Tracyanne Campbell and
Saturday's Betty Marie Barnes, she's just got "it" --
Hunt has this subtle warmth and charm going on in her vocals, as if everything were sung in a half-joking manner. It doesn't hurt that she has a great batch of songs to work with here, either. (
Hunt wrote all the songs on the EP, with the exception of "I Want You Back," which she co-wrote with
Simon Stone.) "Let It Slip" is far and away the best offering here -- it's just a pitch-perfect pop song, all frothy tambourines and fiery basslines. "I Don't Believe in Love" is another highlight -- featuring vocals by drummer Rob, it shimmers with synthesized bells and boy-girl harmonies. Clocking in at 14 minutes on the button,
Let It Slip is a tantalizingly brief glimpse of one of the most promising bands to emerge on Elefant's roster in 2008. ~ Margaret Reges