The Rumble Strips would sound exactly like other scrappy U.K. upstarts (the View, the Fratellis) if it weren’t for their skank-inducing horn section; even a cover of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” bounces along with 2-Tone jollity. Their affable U.S. debut showcases Charlie Waller’s hyperbolic, hyper-British wail. If sometimes whiny, it’s spot-on for delivering wryly chipper lyrics, as on the foot-shuffler “My Oh My,” when he asks a party-line lady to pretend that she’s his ex-lover: “She said, ‘That’s fine!’ / But now she’s talking dirty, and it’s just not right / Doesn’t she know you’re always polite?”
Now Hear This:The Rumble Strips – “Alarm Clock” STREAMING MP3
