Video: Pete & the Pirates: "Knots"
It took Built to Spill to tell a post-Nirvana rock underground consumed with its own angst that There's Nothing Wrong With Love. Rock radio stations didn't listen, nu-metal happened, and now there are a lot fewer rock radio stations. Well, there's nothing wrong with catchy songs or comprehensible lyrics, either. On recent single "Knots", as heard in this simple video, Pete & the Pirates don't take tuneful UK punk-pop anywhere it hasn't already gone in the past three decades, but they know their way around bright, hummable guitar hooks and buoyant, ramshackle choruses. As with former tourmates the WinterKids, whose single "Tape It" was a personal 2007 favorite, this Reading, England quintet make direct, unpretentious guitar pop evocative of sunny afternoons wasted worrying about the opposite sex. With the splashing hi-hats of Franz Ferdinand or Bloc Party, and the multi-part harmonies of the Futureheads, P&TP sing lyrics that stand out for their simplicity: "Sometimes I can't see your face/ It makes me sad." If all that sounds not just unpretentious but unremarkable, too, then that's where the single falls slightly short of some of its predecessors. But there's always a chance this bunch could be perfect from now on.
Bonus! P&TP have also recorded this track live for Black Cab Sessions:
[from Little Death; out now on Stolen Recordings]