Help Stamp Out Loneliness

'Help Stamp Out Loneliness won over all who came to see them with their spirited The Organesque pop - fronted by a stomping, strutting Marlene Dietrich type if Marlene was, you know, fun.' - City Life - Manchester

My find of the weekend are Help Stamp Out Loneliness, a striking six-piece (I think) with a phenomenal singer in D. Lucille Campbell. Her superb metallic asymmetric dress concoction: wantwantwant. Back to the music, it’s simply huge. There’s two keyboards with the Smiths-recalling melodies, and happiness oozing and scratching to escape, surround, overcome the room. The rhythms drive in a way I can only remember Electrelane succeeding at, and it’s for that reason that I fall. - Musoguide

Top 5 Bands to look out for:
Help Stamp Out Loneliness
WHO: It seems odd that the indiest band in Manchester should play a big industry event like In The City, but alas, we can’t smother them with cult-ish adoration forever. Bursting with the sort of silky pop songs designed to soundtrack drunken Saturday nights at Star And Garter, HSOL are best described as a naughty fumble through the tweed-wearing indie trainspotters vinyl collection: imagine a cross between Stereolab, The Auteurs and lots and lots of Belle and Sebastian. Basically, they’re the sort of militant indie band John Peel would have gone completely mad for. Which makes HSOL’s appearance at In The City all the more brilliant and just that little bit subversive.
MOST LIKELY TO: Have a special theme night dedicated to them at the Star And Garter.
WHERE TO CATCH THEM: On Saturday, October 17 at Night And Day, and Sunday, October 18 at Hope Mill (Ancoats) as part of a Blowout showcase. - City Life - Manchester

Hailing from Manchester (but of course!), they are another fine reminder of how much gorgeous underground c-86 influences there are out there. Citing 4AD legends Colourbox as their main inspiration the band comprise D. Lucille Campbell (vocals, tambourine); Louise Winfield (organ, vocals); Katherine McMahon (piano, vocals); Bentley Cooke (guitar); Colm McCrory (bass); Ben Ambridge (drums, maracas); Ana Log (70’s drum machine & general sex appeal; it says here). Lazy comparisons will be drawn with B*l*e and S*b*s*i*n and C*m*r* O*s*u*a; for me, it’s Stereolab, not because this sounds like space age bachelor pad music, so much as it sounds very european, and I mean that as a compliment.

Their debut single ‘Torville and Dean’ will be out soon on Papiloons Noirs, and you can hear it on their myspace page. For me their standout track is ‘Record Shop.’

You’ll have a favourite Help Stamp Out Loneliness song soon too… - 17 Seconds

‘Like a John Hughes film soundtrack with Nico on vocals.’
- Pop Art

Bubbling with unbridled adolescent verve, this 7" sees HSOL surrender two bright sunbursts of peppy summer puff in the vein of The Field Mice and The Pale Saints. Topped off with jamboree handclaps, reverb-rendered arpeggios and Nico-esque vocals, they also get extra props for the Adrian Tomine-like illustration on the sleeve. - Record Collector

Help Stamp Out Loneliness take to the stage to the sound of the tune that their band is named after – being sung by, er, Nancy Sinatra maybe? Not sure, wasn’t paying much attention. It’s a nice touch, anyways, and my attention soon gets taken up by interestingly named HSOL singer D. Lucille Campbell. She’s an arresting front-woman with catwalk figure, stage presence and cutglass cheekbones. The fashion correspondent from Sounds XP is a little vexed by the singer’s choice of frock. It is certainly very gold and shiny. But Campbell wears it with aplomb. And short dark hair. This looks good as she is flanked by matching long-haired blonde girls playing keyboards. HSOL have a pleasing symmetry if nothing else. Luckily, they do have something else in the shape of catchy, cheer-uppy, get-dancey tunes that shimmy along powered by big hits of Blondie-style sparkly pop. Campbell’s voice is deep and smoky and kind of Nico-esque (though without the fog-horn element that might imply), a timbre which sits oddly with the frisky upbeat songs. In the background two ex-Language Of Flowers johnnies get on with the guitar business as the drummer grins and sings – he’s having a fab time. Great stuff! - Kitten Painting

HELP STAMP OUT LONELINESS: "Compilation EP" (White Label)
RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? Shit, this is dead good. Swoonsome pop-rock with muscle, think Voice Of The Beehive with darker secrets and harder drugs. Other, and less
perceptive reviewers reckon
that the lead singeress, Lucille Campbell is a bit
Nico, idiots, it's Annie Lennox in a goodway: strong, sweet, composed and plainly beautiful. Where now? Lyrically they're teaching the likes of The Beautiful South new tricks and you may revel in "Record Shop" to prove that pudding. Noise-wise it's more invention than influences, though the influences are unimpeachable and people, people like me, would be less likely to deride 'indie' as a never ending convention of indulgent kitten-kuddling-kunts if a tenth of the delegates were a tenth as good as Help Stamp Out Loneliness.
IS IT ANY GOOD? Yes. The cd that we have is a compilation of the tracks on their first two 7" singles, plus an extra track, "Parma Violet" and you should hear them, own them, enjoy them.
WHERE IS IT? www.myspace.com/helpstampoutloneliness - Unpeeled

A couple of hours later and they could have invited a real Smith to join them, which might have been too much of a time machine moment for Craig Gannon. But instead he’s playing a couple of numbers with Help Stamp Out Loneliness, who are one of the most distinctive acts of the festival, owning to the huge presence of singer D Lucille Campbell. Her stentorian, molasses-thick vocals, and the band’s slight Smiths intonation make them unmissable and potentially one of indiepop’s big hopes. - Sounds XP

Help Stamp Out Loneliness, on the other hand, go some way to living up to the hype. With D. Lucille Campbell’s more-manly-than-thou Nicoisms setting hearts aflame as the band stand stationary and flick eyes towards their instruments the stage’s as pretty as a picture. Their’s is a detritional sound, reaching a retro peak as they reimagine Jane Wiedlin’s ‘Rush Hour’ for a generation that’ll give up on a remote more than two meters away. Then again now those types are now haphazardly flicking ankles to their knees. In a world slowly devoid of bands, HSOL might just be the bulb glowing above the head. - Subba-Cultcha