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You really have to wonder what The School sounded like at that stage. By rights they should have been rough and fumbling as spiritual forefathers Belle and Sebastian were in their shambolic formative days. Yet The School's debut album, Loveless Unbeliever, is so polished that one half suspects they just spent several years in the rehearsal studio before nonchalantly strolling onto the gig circuit.
From The Ramones to the Gossip, the DIY scene has long been influenced by the output of Tamla Motown and the Phil Spector-produced girl groups of the 60s. Yet rarely have they channelled these influences so slavishly, or so beautifully.
The band is essentially the baby of frontwoman Liz Hunt, whose crystal pure, marvellously unforced tones take centre stage throughout. From the sublime call-and-response cooing of the radiant opener Let It Slip, to the moment she's pours herself like a glowing balm over I Don't Believe in Love, a duet with gravel-voiced indie artist Rob Jones, Hunt is mesmerising. The band's immensely accomplished arsenal of sobbing strings, warm patters of piano, twanging guitars and perky handclaps create a period-authentic backdrop, but her voice is The School's soul, melodious but with the untrained charm of Mary Weiss, Ronnie Spector et al, pure and pretty as the morning light.
Admittedly some may find the totality of Loveless Unbeliever rather wet: there are no belters here, just mid-paced ballads whose musings on unfaithful men and the downside of love tend to come across like something of a pastiche of Hunt's favourite lyrics. If this record was released in 1964, The Shangri-Las probably wouldn't be losing too much sleep. But for a bunch of kids from Cardiff in the year 2010, this is pretty damn remarkable.
--Andrzej Lukowski
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Customer Reviews
Catchy Indiepop with lovely vocals from Liz and strong 60`s girl-group references.
Highly recommended for Camera Obscura and Belle & Sebastian lovers.
Steeped in 60's girl/harmony group sensibilities, it's bedrock is Liz's beautiful vocals and although none of the songs are especially stand-outs in their own right, the album as a whole is joyously gentle and uplifting.
There are numerous handclaps, bababa backing vocals ,restrained orchestration and flurries of brass.
"I want you back" and "Can't understand" are very catchy and "The one who left me" is slightly more quirky but still within their comfort zone.
My favourite tracks are saved for the final two "All i wanna do" where Liz hits top form and "I don't believe in love" which has a (fragile) male vocal opening, which is a nice change and perhaps could have been used more, before Liz takes over again to finish the album in style.
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