Hovering somewhere between The Cure circa Love Cats and The Divine Comedy, Whites Only Party has a snappy slap bass sound with descending runs adding a whiff of rockabilly.
The tune roves around this solid, thumping core. With the second release from their Band of Losers album, The Dears are being compared to The Smiths, probably due to lead singer Murray Lightburn's rangy crooning and the fact that, despite Canadian origins, he appears to affect and English accent while singing about racial injustice.
The intention is, no doubt, that the tune's music-hall cheeriness will be counter-pointed by the message, but actually it is the melody that lingers far longer than the earnest sentiment.
