BANDS hate being labelled, as if by pigeonholing them you're dismissing them as one-trick ponies.

Sometimes though, the name of the genre couldn't be more fitting.

Her's are routinely referred to as "dream pop" - and there can't really be any argument from them.

It conjures up premeditated thoughts of sparkling guitars, catchy rhythms and sing-along vocals, which is exactly what you get.

The pair - Barrow's Stephen Fitzpatrick and Norwegian-born Audun Laading - have been playing shows on the continent, at SXSW in Texas, on tour with some of the UK's most promising acts, and featured all over BBC Radio One and 6Music. With the release of their debut 'album', they're set to be the soundtrack of the summer.

Theirs is thought of as an ultra-modern sound, loaded with synths and effects, backed by metronomic drum machine beats, but there was a whole musical era dedicated to that about 30 years earlier.

There is more than a nod to the 80s new wave scene, probably best represented in the opening track, Dorothy.

Not so much an album, but a compilation rounding up everything that the duo have put out in their two-year existence, it was that single that announced their arrival and earned them their pigeonholing from the off.

What Once Was is the song that earned them their wider success and status as stars of the underground, thanks to a substantial amount of radio play, and it probably stands out as the pinnacle of this nine-song collection. The jangly guitar line off-set by Stephen's deep, almost drawling vocals sums up the contrasts that you'll encounter all over this record.

Cool With You, for example, starts out almost like an early hip-hop instrumental, but then takes detours into beach music and very "European" pop territory, and has the unusual ability to sound like a remix of one of Her's' own songs.

The lush Hawaiian luau of Marcel, the happy-clapping, faster-paced Speed Racer, and the slightly sinister-sounding Medieval could hardly be further removed from each other without it being the same band, yet for a collection of songs - as opposed to a proper album - it's impressively cohesive.

An early contender for "collection" of the year, in fact.

Review by KARL STEEL

  • Songs of Her's is released via all major online retailers on May 12