The first reaction on listening to the third album from Devon/London pop punkers Great Cynics, is HOOKS! ‘I Feel Weird’ is stuffed to the gills with them to the point where it’s nigh on impossible not to sit and listen to it without grinning like an idiot.

Opening with the instant gratification of ‘Want You Around (Chunky)’ Great Cynics take us on a 25 minute hayride that manages to sound fresh and familiar in the same breath. At times boisterous and others gentle, the entire album rushes from classic English pop to latter day emo with gay abandon and pilfers the odd riff from right under the noses of Weezer (‘I Went Swimming’). There’s no sense of direct plagiarism here though; it’s the aural equivalent of your kid brother sneaking in your room and pinching your toys.

In comparison to the band’s previous releases ‘I Feel Weird’ is musically spikier and lyrically much happier sounding. A definite sense of positivity and straight up fun saturates the album front to back and gives it an all over fresh and breezy vibe. See the ridiculously loose and singalong inducing ‘Everyone’s A Little Bit Weird’ which is laced with a chorus that shrugs its shoulders and skips about without a care in the world. Seriously it could stick a smile on even the most hardened curmudgeon!

Lead single ‘Lost In You’ is the undoubted highlight of the album. The vocal bridge of “getting lost in you is better than being alone” is in complete contradiction to some of the lyrical content of sophomore record ‘Like I Belong’. It’s big, it’s bold and it hits the spot on the very first listen.

With ‘I Feel Weird’, Great Cynics are ushering in the summer like a cherry tree in full blossom. This is a band that wears its heart on its sleeve but does so with an appeal that’s as exciting as it is endearing.

4/5

I Feel Weird by Great Cynics is out now on Specialist Subject Records.

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Words by Rob Fearnley