The line between what is pop and what is indie has been blurred for a long while with bands like The Kooks and more recently One Night Only breaking through the noise and unleashing perfect melodies and 3 minute pop songs that are as equally loved by 14 year old girls, housewives and those Topshop mannequins we used to refer to as indie fans.

Not since The Killers first arrived on the scene have a band been so fully formed and ready to inject a bit of glamour into the dour indie scene as The City Joy Cons. Hailing from Halstead, Essex and Armed with 2 synths and dropping the bass player out all together, after all the only two people ever to look cool with a bass have been Peter Hook and Blur's Alex James, they set about making the most of their Manchester debut.

Already the set sounds likes a greatest hits set with "Moving Forward" setting itself up for one of the future singles of 2008. At the heart of it lies some classic songwriting as Suede, Duran Duran and Aha have done in the past rather than a lot of the new wave of electro pop bands that sound of the moment and hence 12 months later while most will sound as relevant as Test-Icicles do to 2008, The City Joy Cons will still be around and more than likely selling out venues 3 times this size. "Just To Tell You" sounds like a duet between Damon Albarn stepping in for Brandon Flowers while at times the guitars on "Directions" sound almost reminiscent of the more restrained elements of JJ72.

Despite a handful of bands such as the Courteeners and The Twang harking back to Madchester's past there's no escaping the fact that the rest of the country is aware that pop will be the dominant force in 2008. While the Ting Tings are flying the flag for Manc nu pop scene, the City Joy Cons will shortly be flying it for those down South and it surely wont be long before a major label bidding war erupts for these boys signatures.

The City Joy Cons - set to be your favourite new band of 2008!

Alex McCann