With influences ranging from the novels of John Fante, to the music of the Pet Shop Boys and Luke Haines, Bandini are always going to be interesting. Seeing them onstage in the dingy rock confines of London’s Highbury Garage confirms this. Lead singer Nick Reavill wearing a dapper pin-stripe suit is all egg-headed elegance, while Mr Bandini himself, Simon Phipps, fiddles with a laptop and his wide lapels. Like many a great act, Bandini often seem out of place and in the wrong time.

Their debut album ‘Love On A Budget’ is a reflection of this displacement. While the music is based on synths and electro touches, this isn’t a case of this year’s post-modern revivalist fad out to cash in on a vapid market. There is irony in the witty lyrics and in Reavill’s glorious voice that’s part Marc Almond, part Neil Hannon, but their strength is in the honesty and emotion that lies behind the songs.

‘Flying Solo’ is a particular highlight. It opens with a shimmer of effects and distorted vocals, from which emerges a delicate piano loop, like a butterfly from a chrysalis. In the sleevenotes, Phipps thanks Australia and you feel he’s drawing a parallel between the country’s vast expanse and the breath of loneliness expressed in the song. ‘Blood Sausage’ also evokes a sense of place, though again it is at odds with its surroundings, like a bedraggled Spandau Ballet number wandering the grimy, wet streets of Camden.

Each song is a little vignette and Bandini refrain from imposing a grand narrative on the record. However the closing track, ‘I Am Full Of Hate’, with its glorious rage distilled through sweet pop and a grandiose orchestral climax, provides a kind of redemption in its melodramatic admission.

‘Love On A Budget’ is the first release on the newly formed Wider Records. As debut albums go it is a fine one and should ensure we’ll be seeing more of the label and Bandini.

words: Colm Larkin

to hear tracks from ‘Love On A Budget’ or to purchase the album, visit www.bandini-life.net