Singles of the Month: Withered Hand and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

Django Django, The Twilight Sad and more also reviewed

Come hither and let us imagine a world, a perfect world – a realm in which Kim Wilde is engaged in a goth-disco tryst with The Sisters of Mercy. Think about it. Harder. Got it? Congratulations, you are now playing ‘Lafaye’ (●●●●, Full Time Hobby), the brilliant new single by School of Seven Bells, in your head.

Since we’re feeling the love for euphoric pop, let’s dodge James Morrison’s latest dribbling Terence Trent D’Arby hoax, ‘Slave to the Music’ (●●, Island), and let’s swerve the thudding electro-bleat of Midnight Lion’s ‘Sleeping in the Woods’ (●●, Island).

Infinitely more enticing is the Factory-clad industrial pop of The Twilight Sad’s ‘Another Bed’ (●●●●, Fat Cat) – The Sad and ‘anti-producer’ Andrew Weatherall make for gorgeous, deviant bedfellows – while the sunnier end of the twisted pop spectrum reveals Django Django to be masters of psychedelic, cut-up kaleido-pop via ‘Default’ (●●●●, Because) and Blue Sky Archives as bosses of gilded indie on the lilting, snare-drawn dream-pop of ‘Bitches’ (●●●●).

February’s ‘Best Title’ accolade is a gift – why, it’s Edinburgh rockabilly blues-firebrands Mystery Juice with ‘Song for the Rural Dispossessed of Scotland’ (●●●●, Red October) – but a tussle betwixt punk-folk and stealth-pop results in a joint Single of the Month for Withered Hand’s joyous, Darren Hayman-embellished ‘Heart Heart EP’ (●●●●, Fence) and King Creosote and Jon Hopkins’ squeezebox greet-fest, ‘Missionary’ (●●●●, Domino), which is basically the most beautiful song about a bad lay you will ever hear. All this and Kim Wilde and The Sisters of Mercy in your head. What a wonderful world.