Hold Fire - Power Cuts

by Kelly Smith

published: 5 / 10 / 2008

Label: Trigger Club
Format: CDS

Inoffensively solid debut single from Brighton indie pop four-piece, Hold Fire

Review

Is the second track on a CD single still called a B-Side, even though it’s on a CD? This is the sort of issue which should be addressed by philosophers and world leaders alike – I have not time for such things. I am busy reviewing. Hold Fire are a Brighton four-piece who’ve been building a fanbase in the south east for several years now, but are set to infiltrate the rest of us with the release of their debut single ‘Power Cuts’ later this month. It’s summery sounding indie pop, which makes me think they may have missed the boat slightly on the timing of their release. In June, this might have been massive, but I’m not sure how well it goes down when you can nearly see your breath outside. ‘Power Cuts’ works because of its simplicity. Drums are understated, guitarists Clark Maides and Richard Rigby (are they in a band because they have cool names, or are their names cool because they are in a band? Yet more unanswered life questions) create a sound just jangly enough to attract attention, and the chorus is punchy without tumbling into the risky ‘shout-along’ favoured by some bands (take a bow, the Automatic). It’s a really solid first single, definitely worthy of radio play, and will probably be popular with the pseudo-NME crowd – not proper indie, but alright tunes. For the record, the b-side/track two/bonus song/’You’ll Never Know’ is a similar sounding affair. It’s the weaker song, which is fine for the single but maybe not a good indication of a future album. In short, I like it, but I don’t love it. That’s not to say it’s not loveable, or that they won’t go on to greater things, but on the whole, it’s pretty inoffensive pop music. Which, when you think about it, is probably just what your first single release should be.