The Brute Chorus, halooing from that cultural wasteland known as Lon-Don (never heard of it), have sculpted one of those songs in the shape of ‘She Was Always Cool.’ Dave Ferret’s thumping bass and Matthew Day’s whip crack handclaps create a sullen atmosphere into which sails James Steel’s suitably sullen vocal, lovestung and singing of “wonderful weeks lost at sea”. This angry old salt grows more irksome and fractious until the chorus breaks like a ray of sunshine as he remembers the good times. Hopelessly romantic, but knowingly nonsensical too. Our dour raconteur returns and the gloom settles again. Musically a cross between Razorlight and the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, but don’t let that put you off.

‘Artemissia’ sees more percussive intro work, taking a bass drum and dusting it lightly with guitar. The pleading voice that tugs at the hold strings de la heart sounds a bit James Yorkstony – nothing wrong there – but any kind of pathos shunts slowly and amusingly into bathos as legion upon legion of instruments, including a mellotron and kazoo, add to the waltzing swell of the chorus. “That’s when I knew I would never be the same,” chips in another old salt is his lyrical vessel is swamped by the simple and rich melody. Simple, but not bland. A nifty nautical pairing with a few titters to lighten the wine dark sea.

Sounding like The Beatles with an Ocean Colour Scene twist, ’Grow Fins’ is unbelievably catchy. It starts off as quite a relaxed, chilled out song but a burst of rhythm is released that turns it into a delightful tune for the ears. James Steel’s vocals are almost silky smooth and flow beautifully, creating a very powerful song.
The band have used quite an unconventional set of instruments in this particular song; but it works brilliantly: a wooden glockenspiel bought on

’Grow Fins’ is their second single and will be released on the 14th of July 2008. With such a classic sounding single, The Brute Chorus have a bright future ahead of them. They may even one day be as big as Ocean Colour Scene; it’s very likely if they continue at this standard.

Buy The Brute Chorus MP3′s