Yet another standard-bearer for the New Eighties Wave, White Rose Movement - who have been knocking around for a year or so - take the decade that gave us some of the best music ever (and some of the worst) and give it a modern twist.

Dark, moody synth-led pop with some driving guitar riffs and wonderfully fat bass lines, Kick is a homage to past glories. Well, some glories. The band's material is firmly rooted in the early part of the 1980s, so much so that songs like Testcard Girl, Love Is A Number and Deborah Carne sound so dated to these ears they are positively "moderne", albeit of the "post-" variety. Anyone over the age of 35 who listens to this engaging five-piece will have a fine old time playing "spot the influence"; a bit of The Sound here, a smattering of early Human League there, while the Gang Of Four, The Cure and heck, even Duran Duran - especially on the aforementioned Testcard Girl - are all here for those who care to hear them. The younger listener will meanwhile find in WRM a brand of music that sounds up-to-the-minute, yet is in reality merely aping certain sounds of two and a half decades ago.

But that's not to say it can't be taken on its own merits; after all, since when did rock and roll always have to be original? The best tune, incidentally, is the "hidden" one, some three minutes after the album's official closer, Cruella, has faded away...

Rating:
Released: 17th April 2006
Label: Independiente