Sweetheart - The Avenue

Sweetheart seems a rather apt name for this Southampton band; their debut single The Avenue being steeped in a sugary collection of retro pop hooks. Scouting for Girls, The Feeling... Sweetheart slide effortlessly alongside these bands with their cheery Supertramp piano chords and the sense they're singing all this with a cheeky wink and a smile.

There's more of a punch to them than first impressions would seem to dictate though - a sense of staying power rooted right in the heart of the song. The Avenue is in many ways a classic lads anthem in the vein of Madness or The Jam, with a singalong chorus to match. Indeed, like the band's name, the record's title seems quite fitting too - you can imagine this soundtracking Pimms-fuelled summer street parties up and down the country.

Interestingly, the band's keyboard player and singer Harry Burgess says the song centres around 'a flurry of demotivational lyrics' aimed squarely at the products of shows like The X Factor and American Idol. The pop hooks here in The Avenue are apparently highly ironic, a targeted 'over indulgence' to further attack the kind of song spawned from these reality shows.

But of course the real irony is that in the process the band have actually created a highly solid pop track themselves, and there's no shame in that, because that's what the public at large will remember you for in years to come.

The Avenue is released on the 30th May.