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Remember these guys?  Formed 2005 in Kentucky, EMI took a fancy to the five-piece as they stormed the UK with their fresh alternative sound.

Ahead of their eagerly anticipated second album due for release in late 2010, we thought we’d better remind...MORE>>

Wichita Records, since their rebellious inception, have had their fingers placed firmly on the pulse of underground Indie. It seems a level of bravery is often enlisted with regards to whom Wichita decide to clench to their collected bosom, yet it often seems this bravery is substantiated by universal commercial & critical success, far beyond that of any other wholly independent label.

Case in point, Bloc Party. Wichita signed up the young, whippersnappers as relatively unknown stalwarts of the college-rock circuit. There 2007 LP ‘Weekend in the city’ has sold over 1 million copies.

It’s this ongoing musical pedigree that instills a sense of excitement as I approach one of there latest offerings. Enter Sky Larkin.

To clear up any initial comparisons that may be made, Sky Larkin bare no resemblance to The Ting Tings, and it would be unfair to imply that Wichita are

cashing in on the female-fronted dime. Yes, both are female fronted exponents of angular, guitar-led music, but that is where any tangible comparison ends.

Whereas The Ting Tings unbearably insipid barrage of summer mega-hits were saturated into every corner of culture and proliferated through every conceivable media outlet, (yet another reason I don’t own an I-pod), exacting a craze which could only be described as grating, Sky Larkin’s fire was slowly smouldering. A specific ember being a debut album, The Golden Spike, recorded in Seattle, under the experienced observation of Death Cab For Cute producer John Goodmanson.

Having more in common with Patti Smith than The Smiths, Dinosaur Jr. than T.Rex, it seems only fitting that their debut be honed at the epicentre in which most Indie we recognise was conceived. So seated are Sky Larkin’s musical meanderings in American Post-hardcore, that if it weren’t for Katie Harkins unashamedly English inflection, they could easily be mistaken for a TVT back-catalogue favourite. Sky Larkin’s youthful exuberance is effectively channelled into easily recognisable, yet undeniably abstract vignettes about young love & young life.

Whilst The Golden Spikes’ track listing is as yet unconfirmed, a highlight will be the delightfully effervescent ‘Beeline’. Coming in at a mere two minutes 38 seconds, the song is an exercise in what can be accomplished with a basic musical set-up & an acute understanding of what makes a good pop song. Bouncing along, ‘Beeline’ never becomes too brash to dissuade the listener from the underlying hooks & apparent lyrical appreciation, nor does it become too vapid & unassuming to undermine the band edge, as has happened with so many bands of the Indie ilk recently shunted into the public spotlight.

If last years unprecedented success of The Ting Tings is anything to go by, this could be the year of the ‘Lark.