Latest single releases reviewed

BELLE & SEBASTIAN
White Collar Boy Rough Trade
***

This starts off sounding like Chicory Tip's Son of My Father, but thankfully becomes a burbling, stomping tune about a boy whose collar's clean but whose hands are dirty. Perhaps not the catchiest tune on The Life Pursuit, but one of the cleverer ones.

REGINA SPEKTOR
On the Radio Sire
****
On a skipping, insistent piano motif, the kookiest indie babe in NYC takes us into a strange world of runaway hearses, melting styrofoam and snoozing deejays, and throws in a quick review of Guns N' Roses' November Rain. Mad and marvellous.

FALL OUT BOY
A Little Less 16 Candles, a Little More Touch Me Mercury
**

Here's an emocore twist on Elvis's A Little Less Conversation, a Little More Action, without the shaking hip or curling lip. As with most of this Chicago band's tunes, the titles are more interesting than the songs. Still, this will keep the teens practising those contact sports in the moshpit.

THE LONG BLONDES
Weekend Without Makeup Rough Trade
***

It's every woman's nightmare, isn't it, having to go barefaced for the entire weekend. This is about being left at home while your man stays late at the office, and features the vocals of leggy brunette Kate Jackson, who definitely wouldn't be stood up on a Saturday night. An artful blend of Martha & the Muffins, Elastica and Siouxsie Sioux.

MOGWAI
Travel Is Dangerous PIAS
**

When you're packing your swimsuit to fly off to the sun, the last thing you need is a bunch of dour Glaswegians raining on your holiday parade. This doom-laden EP featuring remixes from their Mr Beast album is an unwelcome reminder that clouds are just around the corner. Ooh, I'm too depressed to party now.

ABERFELDY
Hypnotised Rough Trade
***

In the great tradition of naming your band after a town (Portishead, Boston, Clearlake), here's a Scots group named for the Perthshire town, and boasting fab boy-girl harmonies. The tune does get a little silly when the girls start acting like The Chalets, but by then you're under the spell.

RAZORLIGHT
In the Morning Vertigo
**

Johnny Borell and his Razorboys display their legendary arrogance in the first line, complaining that there's no one as good as them on the radio. Too bad this solid, workmanlike tune isn't exactly brimming with memorable hooks. Wake me up when you've got a stone classic, guys.