COMPUTERMAN hail from Nottingham and formed somewhere in the mists of early 2004. Their earliest demos were produced by John Spence, whose previous clients include Happy Mondays and The Beautiful South, and these three songs demonstrate why his antenna went up early on.
Lead track "No More Broken Hearts" is swathed in a very big, expansive synth wash which worryingly brings images of Duran Duran and dry-ice riddled stadium shows springing to mind initially, but listen a little longer and harder and (thankfully) you begin to realise that it's actually (new)romantic indie guitar pop that's dear to Computerman's heart after all. It's not perhaps what I'd go looking for, but it's undeniably accomplished and convincing and could well turn a few radio tricks with a bigger budget.
Second track "Watch More Television" not only has a great title, but is also more to this writer's liking. It has a dramatic, wannabe widescreen sweep about it (Jesus, there are VOCODERS lurking in the undergrowth!) which recalls the sort of thing the much-maligned Mansun were doing so well towards the end of the 1990s. Even the vocals are reminiscent of Paul Draper, but that's really not such a bad thing to admit, y'know.
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Those of you who are quick off the mark (and despicable nerk hacks like moi) may also get an additional third track, "No_Recover", which is apparently presented to us in demo form, but is already well-rounded and complete to these ears. This one displays spacy synths, throbs of dub/funk bass and a nice plaintive vocal and could well be a hit in waiting in this Coldplay and Snow Patrol-coveting world.
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