Hot on the heels of last year’s much praised single Sometimes, and offering another tantalising taste of their forthcoming album For the Masses, Listen Up! is so life affirming the band had no choice but to stick an exclamation mark after the title.

While Listen Up! may be a tale of heartbreak and emotional torment, it is told against a sparkling musical backdrop – a tune more infectious than a winter flu pandemic and a pounding beat which sounds like it’s just punched its way out of a Wigan Casino all-nighter.

This acoustic guitar driven two and a half minute gem showcases the electronic production techniques and pop songwriting that have become Brad B Wood and Conrad Astley’s trademark, while pointing to the energy of the band’s live shows which include John A Stewart on bass and Matt Maher on drums.

At its heart is the irresistible refrain: “All I’ve ever really wanted is a girl to make me shout, Hey lads now listen up – this is what life’s about!”

B-side Lonesome Beauty, meanwhile, shows yet another side to the band’s musical vision, with gentle bossa nova and worn velvet vocals giving way to a blistering chorus, sly drum samples, and a bassline more groovy than anything heard since Chic were last in the house.

With both tunes, Merchandise have produced the perfect antidote to winter’s greys and blues, and have once again produced a familiar, yet unique cocktail of charming, disarming and seductive music.

So go on, treat yourself to a taste of Merchandise.

Great news for fans of gorgeous hi-quality, lo-fi organic-pop. Merchandise are back.

Not content to sit back and soak up the plaudits from critically acclaimed second album, ‘Lo-tech Solutions to Hi-tech problems’, the creative drive of Merchandise’s Brad B Wood and Conrad Astley is flowing as richly as ever and in April 08, Merchandise drop stunning new single, Sometimes/Glitterati, in our laps, and with it look set to cement their growing reputation as creators of glorious melodic-pop.

Consummate in the art of marrying luscious acoustic loveliness with all the cut n paste potential of this digital age, Merchandise have once again struck joyful, life-affirming musical gold.
The title track sounds like waking up on a sunny Sunday morning next to the warm body of a post-coital lover. Dripping with dreamy optimism, Brad B Wood’s effortless vocal floats alongside the sprightly piano before the melodic and vibrant rhythm section kicks in and takes the chorus soaring in a swirl of harmonically entwined instrumental elegance and loved-up lyrics.

Track 2, Glitterati, is a further example of Merchandise lo-fi loveliness, albeit in slightly more cynical mood. The uplifting piano is reeled in by the dark lead guitar line and world weary lyrics that Brad delivers from the regretful point of view of one recently duped or deceived; ‘you told me how the field of glitter, is only gold and silver lies. I should have seen it from the outset but I had glitter in my eyes’.

Mournful yet ultimately uplifting, Merchandise’s perfect knack of producing aural comfort means Glitterati’s lyrical content and tender vocal doesn’t quite defeat the notion that there is still light at the end of this particular tunnel.

With Sometimes/Glitterati, Merchandise have produced the perfect antidote to winter’s greys and blues, and have once again produced a familiar, yet unique cocktail of charming, disarming and seductive music.

So go on, treat yourself to a taste of the Merchandise.

American magazine Losing Today wrote: “Merchandise’s sound is stolen from sunny days serenely idling in the shade, with the gentle trickling sound of a nearby river for company and the colourful magnificence of England ’s green quilted garden for a spectacular visual feast.”

Gill Rickson from SBN Radio more prosaically commented that the band’s sound was “like someone got hold of the Kings of Convenience and made them cut up a Rae and Christian album.”

Beautiful Morning for a Bad Day and 14:53 are two of the stand-out tracks which have been turning reviewers’ heads. These gorgeous pop songs see acoustic guitar riffs bouncing out of the speakers alongside lolloping drum loops, pristine piano motifs and Brad’s understated vocals.

Elsewhere the band ask the question “Who says a lo-fi whimsical duo can’t play rock?” on tracks like two-and-a-half minute bruiser Sunday Song and psychedelic burn-out Charlie Parker was a Hobo.

The mournful piano balladry of Distil Disappointment and The Last Stand of Pucho Vasquez provide other surprises as does the wondrous stark warmth of Winter.

Give Lo-tech Solutions a listen and you will surely agree with Tasty Fanzine that this is “Fantastic pop music.”

A-side Two Minutes After creates a brooding soundscape with overtones of Joy Division and Bark Psychosis.

B-side Microcosm introduces a more dub inspired sound with hypnotic moog melodies suggesting the likes of Orbital.

Anyone looking for an antidote to the day-time TV friendly easy listening musak of recent years should look no further.

The single continues the Bolton based duo’s exploration into uncharted sonic territory but also shows evidence of their growing ability to produce perfect pop moments guaranteed to catch the ear of the unexpecting listener.

Merchandise’s trademark sound is put to uplifting effect on Swallowing Curses which has flavours of bands such as The Flaming Lips and Pavement.

Swallowing Curses also contains memorable lyrics penned by travelling writer and band collaborator Roger Williams, describing the unadulterated joy of emerging from the mists of depression and looking out on a cloudless sky.

Not satisfied with the usual band policy of releasing second rate material to fill in the gaps Merchandise have backed the single with Terracotta Caterpillar, an enthralling cocktail of sound which melds hypnotic folk-inspired melodies with hi-tech funk a la Squarepusher and Aphex Twin.

Both tracks pave the way for their up coming second album, now being lovingly honed at Cityscape Studios and due for release in 2004.

The album blends live instruments with analogue and digital technology to create tracks such as the offbeat funk of Shooting Jenny, the whimsical lo-fi pop beauty of Unmapped Streets and the punky electro of album opener, New Resurrection.

Elsewhere tracks such as, Books, Black Russian and Zebedee suggest influences from the likes of Stereolab, Aphex Twin and New Order.

The album gained critical acclaim from Manchester cultural bible CITYlife (review below) and also received attention from national glossy Q.

Lovers of invention and idiosyncrasy could do far worse than explore this lost gem.