The Milk - Tales From The Thames Delta

Buzzing with energy, sass and a superb soul vocal, prepare for The Milk to invade your head, set up camp and keep you dancing all night.

The debut album from this muscly soul-pop outfit is like a blast of fresh, late-summer air.

Lead vocalist Rick Nunn has an elastic, soul-drenched vocal in the same ball park as Cee Lo Green, that spends most of the album flipping and soaring through a pumping, super-tight collection of body-shakers.

With Dan Le Gresley and brothers Mitch and Luke Ayling, Nunn embarks on a trawl through the best of classic soul and hip-hop sounds - brass, bass, beats, groove - refracted through a contemporary lens.

They could have put more effort into attempts at the update - the crunchy Picking Up The Pieces fizzes with energy and menace, but the drum and electro-scratch breakdowns on Hometown and B-Roads, for example, are both tacked on to the end and feel superfluous.

No matter though; the overall result is a compulsive, taut, passionate and hard-bopping album. Go figure.

4 stars