story of hair

If, like this writer, you have even the slightest affection for bands like Slumber Party, Allgirsummerfunband, Heavens to Betsy and Bratmobile, then chances are you'll adore Story of Hair's superb debut Cheap Rate.

The two girl, two boy riot pop combo have crafted a record of catchy riffage ('Friendly Games?', 'The Nod') that harks back to the Olympia scene in the early '90s and should help them scale the ranks of the Irish music world in no time. Not a single note is wasted on all fifteen tracks of Cheap Rate. Story of Hair don't fuck around with jazzy break-downs or pointless solos and instead keep hitting us with the good stuff (and by good stuff we mean tender melodies, jagged, razor-sharp guitars and enough spirited indie anthems to make them ones to watch come next year's festival season).

Steve Shannon's sparkling and crisp production also deserves an honourable mention as he helps to turn some songs that might in lesser hands end up sounding like sludge into well crafted, off-kilter diamonds in the rough (check 'Myface'). As debuts go, Cheap Rate is one of the best in recent time and the punky stomp of 'Dropdown' is worth the admission alone.

Key Track: Dropdown
4/5 - Hotpress

After a lacklustre 2007, Irish music is bouncing back with a vengeance. It's refreshing to witness 2008 finishing on such a flourish with another batch of noteworthy releases.

Story of Hair is a two-boy, two-girl alt-pop outfit with fully-realised tunes to burn. The single Nanny Natch is a great example of their smart and sassy guitar pop credentials that are impressively explored on an album of diversity and ambition. Before bands such as Fight Like Apes got the muso-blogging community in a lather of superlatives, Story of Hair were tipped as the unsigned band most likely to. It's probably just as well that they were left to their own devices, as they've fashioned a fantastic album.

Burn it: Yes/No Gameshow; Unsteady: Dropdown

Rating: 4/5
- Day & Night, Irish Independent

Maybe it's the rain, but our Emerald Isle isn't usually the place to go looking for starry-eyed flower children. Yet, despite the odds, Cheap Rate lends itself to frolicking in fields with daisy chains in your hair.

With Polyphonic Spree-style spirit made precocious by fraternising with Los Campesinos' lively boy/girl dynamic, our very own Story of Hair come out sounding like happy kids blowing bubbles in their chocolate milk. From Friendly Games's assertive joy to Hondamolly's Byrds harmonies, buzzing guitars, tireless drums and wandering glockenspiels all encourage you to channel you inner child with abandon. The album's giddy heart is its uninhibited sense of innocent fun, deftly capturing the spirit of youth while sidestepping twee. Cheap Rate is a party we're all invited to - misery gutses need not apply.

Download Tracks: Hondamolly, Nanny Natch, Friendly Games - The Ticket, The Irish Times

Dublin band Story of Hair showed great promise with their debut EP 'The Ho! Ho! Ho! Stamp' last year, and with their first long-player Cheap Rate they've predominantly delivered on it. One of the most loveable things about the boy-girl collective has always been their ability to balance infectiously catchy pop tunes with homemade indie values - which often gives their songs a ramshackle ambience, albeit one exploding with charisma and likeability.

Dublin band Story of Hair showed great promise with their debut EP 'The Ho! Ho! Ho! Stamp' last year, and with their first long-player Cheap Rate, they've predominantly delivered on it. One of the most loveable things about the boy-girl collective has always been their ability to balance infectiously catchy pop tunes with homemade indie values - which often gives their songs a ramshackle ambience, albeit one exploding with charisma and likeability.

Most of Cheap Rate's fourteen tracks gleam with a similar gaiety, providing a consistently jerky energy, an abundance of well-rounded melodies and an eruption of chiming, sometimes discordant guitar work that's as piercing as it is memorable. Short, sharp blasts of noise-pop are what Story of Hair excel at, and standout tracks including sinister, saucy pop instrumental RTE, the grimy, ballsy rock of Dropdown and the blustery tumult of kooky number Yes/No Gameshow ("Some people think the word 'fuck' / Is a conversational crutch / But I don't think so").

The quartet also demonstrate a knack for unpredictable tempo changes on almost every track - but perhaps best heard on the amusing Steal A Bike and quirky clarion-call Big Melt. True, the ceaseless tempo (apart the lovely, sparse docility of Unsteady) does lose steam about half-way through, and there are often so many ideas and swerving turns crammed into some of these songs, that there's a danger of overloading. On the other hand, it's exciting to realise that Story of Hair are a band positively bubbling with creativity, and we look forward to the next phase of their career with anticipation.

Review by Lauren Murphy
- www.entertainment.ie