SINGLES ROUND-UP - Mooli, Crystal Bats, Liz Lawrence, Soft Bullets, Bo Keeney

Mooli - Love Hurts - MooliMooli Records - Out 13th November

8/10

Let's imagine Chrissie Hynde or Jane Siberry mixing it with MGMT on a summer holiday in Nassau shall we? Actually, Mooli have gone one step better and recreated that crazy notion with Love Hurts, a snappy little electro-pop lolloper that clocks in at just under the pop-required 3-minutes and successfully pisses all over pretty much anything around this week. Mooli is a double-act of Ben Copland and Kristina Smith, they've earwormed their way into Pete Tong's affections and they're 'like that' with the Toolroom Knights crew, which is all quite odd because this sits more with Kitsune Music or some such arty imprint, rather than the pill and powder crew at the local superclub. I like, I like, I like. More please.

Crystal Bats - Arabella - Unknown - Out now

8/10

And here's another poptastic duo who have clearly been O.D.-ing on classic '70s MOR such as Steely Dan, Supertramp and Dean Friedman or perhaps the more recent Phoenix. And there's nothing wrong with that. If the Alessi Brothers bought some new(ish) synths and moved to Suffolk, they'd make music like this. Crystal Bats have a name that suggests they pillage goats and sacrifice villages (or is that the other way around?), but their sound is just the right side of soft-rock pastiche and suggests that they are DEAD serious about this pop malarkey. And so they should be - I'd rather hear a hundred Crystal Bats copyists, than half of the slack-trousered pricks waggling their fingers in my face and rapping about how they've got 156 problems, but a tune ain't one. Or something. Crystal Bats - remember the name. I have. Hit.

Liz Lawrence - Bedroom Hero - LLM - Out 26th November

6/10

Picture the advert - she's cold, wet and miserable, he's upstairs furtively surfing the net, occasionally checking over his shoulder to ensure he's not disturbed. She's missed the bus home and starts to walk, her heel snaps off her shoe, she totters on. Eventually, she gets home to darkness, save for a shaft of light from the upstairs bedroom. She climbs the stairs, he continues surfing, then clenchs a fist in victory before closing his laptop. He turns round to see her standing there, bedraggled. He announces that he's booked her a romantic holiday for two in the Seychelles. The strapline appears - 'be a bedroom hero - book a blah-blah holiday today'. The song in the background is this. The advertising agency wanted Florence Welch - they got the less-shouty Liz Lawrence, same vocal style, same anthemic build-up, same result. They're happy, she's happy and there's 25% off at DFS. I'm wasted really, aren't I?

Soft Bullets - Hyperreality EP - ? - Out 12th November

7/10

Hailing from the UK and the US, Soft Bullets should have the best of both sides of the Atlantic when it comes to musical influences, or so you'd think. Instead, the first song is an agreeably brisk and atmospheric canter with falsetto backing vocals and indie-kit lyrics that is actually Radiohead. No seriously, it is, it has to be. The pair inject a bit of Prince into the second song, a slinky slice of sub-funk that wouldn't sound amiss on Twin Shadow's recent album. A promising start and, yes, Capaldi and Wall have picked two rock and soul titans as reference points. Sadly, the next song Broken Circuits is a bit lumpen and lacking in spice and urgency, hovering dangerously near Keane territory. That's Keane in glum mode, not jolly. The title-track is altogether better with its harmonies, jazzy brush-work and Yorke-esque cantata. Hey you know what? Soft Bullets have a future if they eschew the likes of the that third song and build on the eerieness of the other trio on offer. Promising stuff.

Bo Keeney - Don't You Worry EP - Stranger Records - 9th December

6/10

The fashion for EPs continues unabated, which can mean either great value for the fans or akin to carving your own sternum out with a scythe, depending on your opinion. Keeney is a young songwriter who has the kitchen-sink on his new 6-tracker - the title track is a little bit soul, a little bit folk and, woah, a whole chunk of faux drum n bass piles in like a gatecrashing raver halfway through. Hmmm - it's OK. Then Ambulance arrives like some bluesy, funked up half-pounder, promising much more, before the rather pedestrian third song arrives. Motivation sees Keeney sound a bit like Jose Gonzales (good) but the overall mix is unwieldy (bad). Still, as a singer and a songwriter Keeney's sure got promise. However, the remixes on here let the side down. I refuse to be drawn in to how needless they are.