Singles of the Week: The Horrors, Mona, Villagers

This week we’re highlighting Villagers’ newest ultra-radio friendly offering, Mona’s latest track and what is probably the best thing The Horrors have ever put together.

By Robert Carry

The Horrors, Still Life. Download here.

The Horrors have been having a tough time of late. The darlings of synth-gloom take a bit of a hammering from the critics, despite the fact that in tracks like Primary Colours they have so far put together some decent music. Then there’s the fact that because one of the band members’ brother is in The Vaccines, they’ve been cast as something of an underachiever.

Nonetheless, they’ve returned with what is probably their best track yet. They’ve eased back on the scary church organs, stopped wailing and put together a tuneful, melodic track that sounds like the type of thing normal people might actually listen too.

Listen here:

Mona Teenager, Download here.

The debut album from Mona, who played Slane yesterday, hasn’t quite lived up to the early promise of tracks such as Listen to Your Love, but it's still well worth a listen.

Their latest single, Teenager, is a decent effort although there appears to be an attempt by someone involved with the band to make them into a sort of Kings of Leon-light. Plus, the quiffs, side-burns and chopped up denim jackets are starting to look a bit crap.

Listen here:

Villagers, The Pact (I’ll Be Your Fever). Download here.

Villagers are back with another folked up number about the downside of falling in love. The Pact’s sheer inoffensiveness means it’s already winning more airplay than Kerry Katona has bad mother awards.

There is more than a touch of the Libertines/Babyshambles about this offering, although admittedly with much of the balls chopped off. That said, there is a market for this sort of thing so expect to hear plenty more from O’Brien & Co.

Listen here: