I saw The Research a few weeks ago, supporting Sleater Kinney, and I came away not quite sure of what I’d thought of them but thinking that I’d quite like to see/hear them again. Which obviously, not being in the habit of reviewing records I haven’t actually heard*, I now have.

And I’ve decided that I quite like ‘em. The Research use a simple, child-like sound to make unsophisticated yet strangely knowing tunes, maybe a little like Hefner stealing the 60s stylings of The Concretes. It’s a song about being in a band, and about finding it incompatible with your old relationships, and it’s quietly touching in a twee sort of way. Melodic and lo-fi, The Way You Used To Smile has a jaunty, keyboard-reinforced creak of a backbeat over which sweetly morose vocal harmonies lament their lost love, and it all comes together into an unashamedly charming and rather winning whole.

Oh – and I never would’ve considered it possible to sing “Do-d-doo, do-d-doo” in an understated, almost shy manner if I hadn’t heard this record. You learn something new every day…

*Insert catty remark about how you’d never’ve guessed as much here, should you wish...