Lapalco

On the misleadingly titled "Folk Singer", feedback-strewn power-pop melodies eddy past like dandelion seeds on the wind, while Benson sings self-consciously geeksome lyrics that directly reference his idols: "She says `Stop pretending/ You're not John Lennon'". Sure enough, on "Tiny Spark", squelchy organs herald a classic-sounding 1960s riff that might as well have just stepped out of a time capsule. But Benson injects enough character and humour into his songs to avoid a sticky, stagnant fate. "Met a girl/ Introduced myself/ Asked her to go with me/ And no-one else" he sings, earnestly, on "Metarie". "You need a bath/ Your clothes are wrong," comes the withering reply, "You're not my type/ Know we wouldn't get along". With the gall to dump himself on his own record, how could this self-confessed loser fail to pull a winner out of the bag? --Louis Pattison