Sarandon - 'The Miniest Album'

In the mid 80s there flourished briefly a self-styled ‘cubist pop’ movement. It was headed by Big Flame, and there were also the Mackenzies and forgotten others recalled only on inlay cards of dusty, buried Peel tapes. I was a fan of this unmusical kind of music, all sharp and pointy with notes in unexpected places. I recall this now on listening to a new record by a band called Sarandon, about whom I know nothing. It seems to follow in this tradition. Are we ready for a cubist pop revival? Well, why not? We’ve had far less deserving ones. We live, after all, in a world where kids consider Franz Ferdinand truly astonishing because they’ve never heard Josef K.

There’s something about this 7” single which appeals. Brief, angular songs jerk into life and then quickly expire. I have a special fondness for short songs. The singer reminds me of the bloke out of another treasured mid 80s band, the Wolfhounds, with that slightly sour edge to his voice. I probably make this sound more retro than it is, for good songs are good songs in any day, and I’m glad someone is out there doing this. It’s aptly named as the Miniest Album. You get seven songs, one per inch, which appeals to my northern parsimony. Value for money, and a pile of songs that are no longer than they need to be. Who could resist?

You can do what I did and buy the record directly from their website - www.kabukikore.net/sarandon - via PayPal for three quid – just think, in Big Flame’s day you used to have to send off cheques and SAEs to get things. While there, you can also download a couple of MP3s, if that’s what grabs you, although that isn’t nearly as exciting as getting a good 7” single through the post.