THE HOLSTEINS: “Angel Train” (Bullet)

THE HOLSTEINS are a five-piece pop combo from the Antrim area, and Angel Train is a collection of eight-track demos recorded in Newtownards over the last two years. The most striking thing about this record is that it is just that – a record – the nice shiny black vinyl harking back to the days when pop music was a wonderful creative force, instead of being dance’s poor cousin.

The fact that Angel Train was recorded only on eight-track doesn’t make for easy listening. The sound is so poor that it took four listens before I realised that the record was skipping on two tracks. Not to worry ’cos there’s real meat here.

The opening ‘I Could Never Love You’ is catchy, tuneful guitar pop, where the often sombre lyrical content belies the throwaway feel: “I want you to hurt like I do/I want you to feel the hurt and pain the way I do/Maybe then you wouldn’t be so cruel.” ‘Hyper Nakedness’ meantime is reminiscent of those, er, halcyon days of The Subterraneans.

Niamh Rooney’s warblings are bright and airy, conjuring up similarities with the wonderful Forget-Me-Nots on tracks like ‘You Don’t Touch My Heart’ which has a great little melody. The lads in the band join in on the vocals of ‘Spanish Dancer’, a kind of collective drone that makes it very obvious why the singing is left to Niamh.

‘Remembered It Glows’ opens with some Johnnie Marr-ish guitar licks as Niamh sings of what seems to be a half-recalled teenage lesbian romance. “We were friends and lovers then/But we were both young girls.” The trouble is that it was written by one of the male members of the band. I know no-one said music has to come from experience, but isn’t this taking things a wee bit too far?

‘A Year And A Day’ is the finest cut of this collection: gentle guitar overlaid with Niamh’s sweet tones as she whimpers, “This time you can’t crush my dreams.” With ‘Death By Chocolate’ I will plead total ignorance and admit that I haven’t a fucking clue what the song is about, but it sounds sexual, with lyrics about going down, riding and licking things clean. Hmmm. Answers on a postcard to . . . Great song title though.

Angel Train has its moments. The sad thing is, with a little more money spent on production this could have been a fine album. As it is, it’s a promising debut, but they still have a fair way to go.

• John Walshe