‘Head strong people get the first foot in the door, Set the pace and say we’re all too slow, Mundane evil seems less rotten at its core, All just one less thing I’ll never know’ (I Idled)

Permanent Present Tense is the debut full-length from New York’s The Follies and is an exploration of shimmering, melodically charged power pop. When scanning the past projects of The Follies’ members, spanning as they do, amongst others, The Rival Mob (Evan Radigan, guitar and vocals), Anasazi (Jess Poplawski, bass and vocals), Ajax (Chris Bowman, drums) and Vexx (Mike Liebman, guitar), this may come as something of a surprise.  But immerse yourself a little deeper and the outlines of this rich New York hardcore punk heritage begin to reveal themselves in the tensile strength around which of each of these tightly crafted, dynamically structured ten tracks are honed.

Bright, jangly guitars and an energetically lissom rhythm section are entwined with alternating dual vocalists and waves of backing harmonies as accents of Britpop and country twang flare-up.  An intriguing contradiction lies at the heart of the band’s sound that is simultaneously imbued with an unhurried, languid pacing and a heartily robust groove.  This blend is also reflected in their thoughtful lyrical reflections on everyday life, which walk a line of positive yet guarded pragmatism, neither darkly resigned nor overly optimistic.  The result is an album that swells organically through its discreet changes in tempo, from the vibrant opener I Idled to the sombrely strident You’d Have To Ask Them, and from the assertive Brick By Brick to the jauntily layered Whatever Happened.