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(. 'Scuse me love, just want to get a pint of milk...)

So, be thankful for Karen O's honeyed purr, for Nick Zinner's tasteful guitar buzzgrind, for whoever-in-the-band-does-the-sequencers and their nicely-done input, and for Brian the drummer's sleek, shiny disco beat frenzy. Pop's a team effort, you see, and just one missing cog-tooth could gum up the entire machine.

And after a run of pop songs which try and break new melodic ground using one circular chord progression and a barrell of sass - Lady GaGa, that was for you - it's refreshing to hear a song which was plainly composed before work was completeted on the backing track.

Karen's ecstatic build to the chorus only works because someone decided the song needed to go somewhere else at that point, and it's the best bit. Not least because her voice, which can be all rasp and yelp, carries her up into the emotional heights without undue drama, even though she's emoting all over the shop.

And if the Kings Of Leon can become the hit of the (last) year by adding a heaped teaspoon of pop discipline to their homegrown guitar stew, who's to say Karen and co can't do likewise?

NB: Indie purists, I wasn't asking you...

Download: Out now
CD Released: April 13th


´óÏó´«Ã½ Music page

(Fraser McAlpine)