▼ GOLDEN APES △

It’s good to see in the press release a statement that the band never try and disguise the influence bands like the Furs, Sisters and Cure have had on them, because the solid stroll of the Sisters, the fresh draughts of keyboard infusions of the Cure at the most gracious, and the vocal similarities between Peer Lebrecht and Richard Butler at his laconic, introspective best are pretty clear to see, but as influences, not as musical handcuffs, and that’s both unusual and a relief. Normally a band with their influences clearly visible in a small scene can’t be anything other than small potatoes, copyists with a melodic skill, but Golden Apes are easily the band the Furs never became. They have a gravity that’s tied in with light centrifugal musical force to spin off at tangents, making them a modern equivalent of anything that’s gone before, and in doing so, with familiar blood beating through upgraded arteries, they connect with your tastes, just as your flow with theirs... (Mick Mercer)