Bristol trio Pompadour have certainly earned their indie rock stripes with their debut release. Their melodies are edgy and sharp in all the right places, but there's an underlying pop vibe that stops the EP from wandering into shoe gazing territories. This is partly thanks to the vocal talents of Tamsin Sayers who can swing from poppy to softly punky in a few bars. While the heavier percussive elements of the band remain throughout the five track EP, the opening two tracks Blame Your Predecessors and Point Blank are world's apart in their delivery.
The fact that each track has a different style that is lead by the vocal, gives the EP an unpredictable nature: you're never certain what is going to come next. Take Blame Your Predecessors as an example. It opts for a 'less is more approach' that relies of space and rhythm to layer the track rather than full out skuzzy guitars and reverby drums.
Not only does the EP play with styles, it plays with various musical indie epochs. There's flavours of late 70s early 80s punk hangover and 90s Britpop, yet the band enhance the modern leaning for the fuzzy garage band sound - all deliberately enhanced by producer Tom Cory.
Despite the band's name, Cut to the Chase, is an earthy debut from a promising new band. There's no pretensions, no notions of wannabes, no frill and no fuss and nothing affected. As the press release says "there's nothing pompous about pompadour."