With this gleeful debut album, French fivesome Concrete Knives bring all the charm of l’été to the bleak British mid-winter. There’s colour and youth splashed all over these songs: noodly guitars chime with steel drums on ‘Brand New Start’, while the sweet, chanted chorus of ‘Greyhound Racing’ recalls Phoenix and Vampire  Weekend. At times it can be a bit round-the-campfire twee, but when they’re doing something as cut-yourself-sharp as ‘Wall Paper’, it’s easy to forgive Concrete Knives for the odd moment of artistic bluntness.

Dannii Leivers