The sense of place is important in Rock'n'Roll, so there are times when a record feels and sounds so familiar that it's hard to believe it could emanate from somewhere entirely different.
If you're wondering what your reviewer's waffling on about, then check out the debut single by previously unknown quantity ISOLATED ATOMS. Said single 'Tell Me What I Want' could almost be a lost New Order single, such is the melodic, Hook-esque rush of the bassline and the icy strafe of keyboards, so the smart money would suggest this here band come from Manchester.
But not so. Intense quartet ISOLATED ATOMS actually hail from the mysterious outer environs of the Black Country. They are a well-drilled outfit, do their uplifting melancholy thang pretty well and in singer Grant Leon Ashman's earnest, Tom Smith-y vocals and Mark Neat's rockist riffing have enough of their own to veer away from sounding like a carbon copy, even if Peter Hook himself has acquiesced to produce their follow-up.
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B-side (sorry, but it's still a term I'm determined to use) 'Here We Go' is all urgency and energy and, like its' loftier A-side, won't embarrass itself on the dance floor either.
It's been a year when Indie has rediscovered its' dance floor credentials and while it's hardly 1990 again, bands like Go! Audio, Defend Moscow and The Panama Kings have been running with a similar Indie/ dance crossover sound and making ground. Isolated Atoms offer a darker, more atmospheric take on these shapes and it could well stand them in good stead during 2010. Consider them primed for take off.
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