Tokyo Police Club – 'Champ' review
Tokyo Police Club decamped from their native Toronto to Los Angeles specifically to record a summer record, and this, their third long-player, is the result. And what a glorious blast of sunshine-inflected pop it is. Wait Up (Boots of Danger) has as sweet and simple a chorus as you’ll hear all year, Big Difference is drenched with the kind of power pop that Weezer wish they still wrote, and Favourite Colour’s gorgeous drawl makes you wonder why Pavement even bothered reforming.
Sure, every sensible synapse in your head will tell you that Champ is derivative indie-pop with little new to offer, but over the course of its small but perfectly formed duration, it reveals itself as rather brilliant, life-affirming songcraft that is catchy, poignant and youthful. And if its merit is purely meteorological, may the sun shine long and bright.
9/10
