Singles for the week starting 3 October!

The Unkindness of Ravens
Virus/Viper
(Sonic Fire Records)
* * * *

Electronic duo Nina and Ben return as the Unkindness Of Ravens with a new double A side, and it’s very much a record of two halves. First track ‘Virus’ is a bleak, sparse affair with minimalistic guitar played against a repetitive tribal drum beat. Overlayed by Nina’s stilted, spoken vocal, the end result is cold and austere. Second track ‘Viper’ is my preferred poison: the repetitive drums are still there but the guitar is fuller and heavier this time, with a melody emerging in both the music and the vocal.
Mark Cousens

Clock Opera
Lesson No 7
(Moshi Moshi)
* * * * *

Guy Connelly, the leading component of so called ‘chop pop’ group Clock Opera, is back with single number four and this time round he’s enlisted some help.
For ‘Lesson No 7’ Clock Opera have become a four piece, and as such their sound is quite different from previous releases. This time the studio wizardry takes a back seat in favour a more traditional ‘band sound’, resulting in an exhilarating blend of art pop and rock – and their best single to date.
Mark Cousens

Tellison
Edith
(Naim Edge)
* * *

These Hammersmith-based laddies seem pretty determined to get fists pumping and hearts swooning, via the not entirely unlikely medium of power rock. Although the production might suggest a post punk rawness, ‘Edith’ is a big pop song underneath its gnashing guitars, sharing the kind of chart-friendly simplicity of a Green Day mega-seller.
Passionate, not entirely original but passionate.
Danny Canning

Patterns
Induction
(Melodic Records)
* *

If only bands would decide on whether they make sweeping pop or beat-driven rock. Pattern's latest single falls between these two overly familiar stools - briefly captivating with the former and anaesthetising with the latter. Are we meant to accept that if an artist has the audacity to straddle these polar ideas that they are destined for stadium sized success?
The inherent problem with ‘Introduction’ is that it so neatly conforms to these predictable forms without any deviation, that we arrive in a vapid half-baked house of ideas. What a terrible excuse for pop music.
Samuel Breen