Surfacing: Boy Mandeville

There's something irresistibly pleasant about Cambridge-formed-but-currently-London-based quartet Boy Mandeville. Even when they're telling Christina to "get out of the house" on new single 'Christina', they do it a wonderfully agreeable manner. More so, they avoid slipping into sickly sweetness and manage to stay on the right side of the summery pop divide.


'Christina', as it happens, is Boy Mandeville's finest work so far. Their debut single proper, released on Voga Parochia (also home to Victoria & Jacob), combines the hyperactivity of Hot Club de Paris and the majestic melodies of Stornoway to produce a jaunty pop ditty. Excepting their difficulties with the Christina figure who is the central lyrical feature of the song, of course. Haringey never sounded so good.

Many will pick up on a Larrikin Love comparison, especially on tracks like 'Need More Stuff' but that's a comparison I view as favourable. If Boy Mandeville can replicate the continual joy I received from experiencing that band's brief flirtation with a musical career, then it will have been a job well done. Challenge set. Don't let the team down, lads.

STREAM: Boy Mandeville - Christina


DOWNLOAD: Boy Mandeville - Need More Stuff

'Christina' was released this month on 7" from the label and digital download now at iTunes.

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