Clap Clap Riot: Dull Life (CCR)

Elsewhere’s penchant for classic pop-rock with allusions to punk bristle and power pop elevation gets another shot of pleasure from CCR (our one, who previously appeared in one of our best of the year lists).

And again they deliver a vinyl-length collection of smart and memorable songs (11 in 38 minutes).

In their bag of memories (conscious and unconscious) they have bits of Big Star, the best of Paul McCartney’s melodic sensibilities, a blend of punk-goes-stadium and, as always, plenty of pop hooks.

They can conjure up the Seventies (the enjoyably rowdy Help Me) as much as world weariness (the reflective and slightly dreamy title track, Perfect Man), a kind of shoegaze-cum-power pop (Arrows in the Night) and even synth-pop disco (Four Hands which sounds like an instant hit for any summer day).

Deploying electric keyboards has also opened them up to Seventies rock with a funk quality (Better Than This which sounds like early Blur waking up in the Midwest).

There’s also a confident poise about their songs – check Crickets in the Grass – but an interesting layer of self-doubt in some lyrics, as the title, Better man and other songs suggest.

At its best, pop manages to bring those elements together and still be uplifting and – aside from the downbeat closer Old Man Living – Clap Clap Riot pull that off with style. Again.