Hooton Tennis Club – “P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L. P.I.E.R.R.E.” (video)

Ian King: There hasn’t been a Britpop tune that so successfully spelled out its title since Pulp’s “F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.”, and that’s surely a compliment on some level. The track is driven by the Summer of ’96 chant-along chorus, while the guitars are reminiscent of when Blur started listening to Pavement records, and the video is random and confusing enough to remind us that it’s 2015, and not 20 years ago. Perhaps not the strongest song we’ve heard so far from their new record (“Jasper” and “Standing Knees” are less immediate but more rewarding in the long term), but Highest Point in Cliff Town is still shaping up to be a solid album from the Liverpool band. [6/10]

Paul Duffus: It’s either Blur from that time when they wanted to be Pavement or a drunken Super Furry Animals stumbling headfirst Frank Spencer-style into a posh glassware shop. The second path is clearly the more preferable, and hopefully the one Hooton Tennis Club will follow. For all the knowing wonkiness, one suspects there’s a heart of shiny, shiny pop beating in there. It’ll be fun to see how these self-uglified ducklings turn out. [8/10]

Evan Sawdey: So I belive it was last year when I heard this band’s first single “Jasper”, an underground rock throwback that was fundamentally ’90s in a glorious sloppy kind of way but so melodically focused I immediately pegged the band as one of those groups you have to keep tabs on. Now, finally, the group’s debut album, The Highest Point in Cliff Town is here, and, sadly, “Jasper” is still the best thing on there. The album is pretty good, but as you can see with “P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L. P.I.E.R.R.E.”, the group gets the flannel-drenched atmosphere down first, and delivers the song second. The video almost makes up for it, but there were much stronger cards they could’ve played in the Lead Single game. At the end of the day, the video will get more attention than the song associated with it. [4/10]

Timothy Gabriele: And when you put it altogether, there’s the model of a charmless fox. [5/10]