Sheffield’s perennial ability to produce alternative music is uncanny – with this enter Harri Larkin. The city’s latest protégé are the type of indie pop trio who fall neatly into the endearingly twee portion of the genre that Beach Bunny and Pom Pom Squad co-occupy. Throw some Johnny Marr jangle-pop into the mix and you have the band’s latest single ‘Bonfire Toffee’.
It’s a straightforward one, with fun guitar riffs interspersing a funk backbeat that reminisces about the days when surfer rock consumed west coast America. It’s equal parts indie funk and indie punk but it’s well thought out – the genres coalesce without clashing.
Perhaps most striking are the performances themselves, which, while tight throughout, are particularly reserved. If we are to call this surfer rock, you question whether the song was recorded after a day on the waves, with the band aching from exercise, skin sore from sunburn and amps cranked down to their lowest setting.
It isn’t a bad thing – the aesthetic suits. But a more energetic mix would probably help lift what is an occasionally flat recording. The most intriguing part comes right at the song’s conclusion where the guitars sound like they’ve been plunged underwater. It’s an odd quirk but one that would have been welcomed sooner.
That’s mostly it. ‘Bonfire Toffee’ probably won’t blow you away but it’s not supposed to. It’s understated with reason and given the ostentation that accompanies many bands, it’s a welcome alternative.