Drummer Tarek Musa’s Spring King project took off when the four-piece was the first band played on Apple’s Beats 1. Pop sheep in punky wolf clothing, they’re ideally positioned for a channel posing as alternative but planning to be mainstream. Lyrically this debut isn’t the most sophisticated, ticking off key stage 1 rock themes of nights, cities, darkness and escape. But the music has plenty of sticky-floored fun, hinting at everything from surf rock to Springsteen, Foals and Fat White Family, while lacking any sense of existential or holy dread. It may be post-punk in the way that the Fonz was proto-punk, but Musa’s tail-thumping ambition to construct the perfect chorus lifts even the lesser songs.
