The Race - Raising Children/ Go Figure (Shifty Disco)
UK release date: 13 June 2005
I have it on good authority that Radiohead and Supergrass manager Chris Hufford told this energetic Reading five-piece they're the most exciting band he's heard in the last ten years. He should know. And if this double A side single is anything to go by, he's certainly right.
These are hits in the making. With Raising Children, the band hammocks you with rich glucose-gobbling melodies and high strummed guitars, then kicks you off on to the lawn with it's intense outpouring of passion and air-punching bravado. It also has to be the best musical form of contraception around with the song's question: "Why do you stay home when all your friends have gone?".
Like a slow-release firework, Go Figure is explosive with a sustained sparkle. The euphoria of the chorus rides on shimmering vocals, shiny guitars and heart-pounding drums. You feel high on life, you want to jump around, so you do. Buy this single.
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