THE FEATURES' previous single "The Way It's Meant To Be" turned a few heads at W&H Towers and with "A Million Ways To Sing The Blues" they're at it again.
Although they may hail from Sparta, Tennessee, The Features intrigue because they are neither another buncha Southern fried good ole guitar slingers a la Kings Of Leon or an obviously jangly update of the Southern states' paisley underground lineage that kicked off with Big Star and continued through REM.
Actually, "A Million Ways..." wrongfoots you from the off, initially with a brief, looped snatch and then a snappy, two mins 30 herky, jerky pop tune that pulls off a similar disco-hijacking the way Blur's "Girls And Boys" did. To these ears, The Features have also been inhaling Stellastarr*s Anglophile angularity and in Matt Pelham's vocals, they have a frontman who's clearly well-versed in Pulp's back catalogue.
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"A Million Ways To Sing The Blues" is an infectious, pithy blast that references easily, but remains tantalisingly difficult to definitively pigeonhole. Job well done, in simple terms.
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