Coming to us straight outta Chichester, young quintet JOHNNY 4 (yes, there are FIVE of them) bring us a classy deviation from ye olde guitar-driven indie rock with this three-track debut single.
Produced with impressive clarity by Mark Waterman (Elastica, Ride, Ash, Peter Perrett), "Born Without" is a dramatic, crescendo-hungry set-piece, with keen harmonies and drummer Andrew McKellar's Mo Tucker-style nervous heartbeat pounding standing out and the whole thing taking on an expansive hue along the lines of the Flaming Lips or the Super Furries at their most Spectorian. Engaging, in a word.
Second track "Clock," though, is probably the cream of this crop. It has a metronomic backdrop and basks in dreamy keyboards and patient, ritual drumming, before being topped off by frontman Luke Albery's serene vocals. It's a beautiful thing of some understatement and the very essence of sublime. That it's not easy to readily categorise must also be a consideration.
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Sadly, a little of the shine is scraped off by the inclusion of the concluding "Useless Plea", which is an overwrought, sub-Radiohead ballad, at least in this acoustic form. It partially rips down the atmosphere of what's gone before, but thankfully only partially.
Still, a young band are entitled to the odd spotty B-side, and overall JOHNNY 4 are certainly a name to conjure with. If the fully-realised loveliness and atmosphere of both "Born Without" and "Clock" are typical of what they can achieve, then they're surely onto something in the long run.
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