The Little Flames - Isobella

Before listening to this single, the thing that most people know about The Little Flames is that they are mates with the Arctic Monkeys. Alex Turner et al have given several leg ups to the band, including covering their previous single ‘Put Your Dukes Up, John’ as a b-side, having them as a support act and joining them on stage to perform said song. It seems the Liverpudlians newcomers have decided to repay them by recording some sort of tribute to their friends, as this song does sound rather like a watered-down, female fronted Monkeys song.

The guitar intro really could have been lifted from ‘Whatever People Say…’ and it is something of a surprise when it is a woman that sings the opening line. Truthfully, it is not a bad song, with similar indie guitar popness as ‘Sun Hits The Sky’ era Supergrass, but neither does it have a great deal to mark it out as anything other than average. Eva Peterson’s vocals are perfectly good and the chorus is suitably catchy, but then so are a lot of vocals and so are a lot of choruses. In the world of post-Monkeys pop music, a lot of bands are influenced by them and a lot of bands just sound like they want to be them. Unfortunately, with this song, The Little Flames just don’t do enough to suggest they are not they latter.

I’m not suggesting that this band does not have the individual talent to carve out a career for themselves – they are after all signed to Deltasonic and Alan Wills does have a habit of signing up bands with a knack for a pop song – but they should probably follow this golden rule: if you’re going to draw attention to your more famous, more talented friends, try not to release a single that sounds so much like you’re trying to be them. Oh, and don’t back the song with an identical instrumental version, which removes the only thing that sets you apart (the vocals) and just further highlights the similarity of the music. The thing I still know after listening to this single is that The Little flames are mates with the Arctic Monkeys

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First published on www.rockfeedback.com. See it here.