Reviews

The West Country accent is a much maligned beast. Take it with you to anywhere further East or North and you will be lambasted with queries as to where you parked your combine harvester.

While most singers are busy adopting a mid-Atlantic hybrid of aping Pete Doherty's estuarinisms, this band sing with a glorious Gloucestershire accent usually reserved for Northgate Street on a Saturday afternoon.

That's right: welcome to the world of The Echoes whose music is less all right than it is oi'll roight.

Listeners of a nervous disposition have nothing to fear, however: this band sound nothing like The Wurzels.

Rocket to Cheltenham

The band currently have four tracks available on MySpace. The four piece come from Cheltenham and have a sound based on pop-punky guitars with a Ramones flavour and a hint of the Bare Naked Ladies (that's the Canadian band, not actual bare naked ladies - they aren't that kind of band).

On top of that there are both smooth and gruff vocals, the latter sounding like a fusion between Reef's Gary Stringer and Gomez's Ben Ottewell.

On the Up…

The themes of the songs vary from a state of hedonism ('A Sunset Scene' and 'Roll Up Roll Up') to its exact opposite.

The upbeat songs are life affirming and celebratory: a manifesto for the band's policies of bringing music to your ears: "Roll up, roll up 'cos this night mine" they sing from the roof tops during the track of a similar title.

And besides, any song that features the sound of bag pipes - or at least a bagpipe affect - and remains infectiously catchy, and likeable, deserves some kind of a mention.

Elsewhere, on the abruptly terminated 'A Sunset Scene' the theme continues.

Amid crashing waves, moonlit nights and beautiful sunsets, the band crash and burn through a high octane song, living life to the full: "you know what it's like to be alive - to feel my heart beat".

And Feeling Down

Meanwhile, two other songs are a little more downbeat in theme. 'Just the Same' is filled with burning adolescent envy of a "dramatic superstud" while 'Write This Down' charts the pain of unrequited love, with poignant lyrics.

"I spent all my money/on a diamond ring for you/you threw it to the ground/I told you it only cost five pound", runs one such example.

But even at their most miserable, The Echoes maintain a cheeky charm that is guaranteed to fill dance floors.

For all the heartbreak and tear jerking of their lyrics, the band end 'Write This Down' with a triumphant rendition of everyone's favourite set of lyrics: "Na na nah, na na na-na nah nah naaaaaaaaaaaaar".

Do you like pop music?

The Echoes are a young band at the poppiest end of the guitar based music spectrum.

Despite all the negative connotations that this description may summon up (Busted and McFly, anyone?), there is a depth to the band's music that eludes bands with a supposedly higher purpose.

The upbeat songs are imaginative and the sadder songs bare their soul with honesty.

With such integrity and creativity, The Echoes deserve to do very well for themselves - both musically and as cultural ambassadors of the Gloucestershire accent.

Who knows, what Jarvis and Alex have done for Sheffield, and Noel and Liam did for Manchester, Chris, Mike, Max and Charlie might well do for Cheltenham.

This article is an external contribution and expresses a personal opinion, not necessarily the views of the BBC.

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If you're involved in the Gloucestershire music scene and you would like Stephen to review your music, please feel free to get in touch. Either email gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk or send your album and a bit about yourself to:

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