Saturday Night Gym Club - How to Build A Life Raft Album Review

Okay, so the artwork isn't exactly world beating, but what's inside this tasty little package is much better so there's no need to fret.

This Anglo-Irish collective, who have been garnering attention since playing Radio 1's One Big Weekend last year, keep things paired back and straightforward with their debut EP. How To Build A Life Raft is a healthy slice of Great British electro-pop, throwing nods to the likes of Metronomy, Cut Copy, Hot Chip and all that gets your hips shuffling of a Saturday night.

The warm synths and staccato vocals of 'I Know' introduce us to a band that knows their way around a mixing desk. Despite the damp climates of their hometowns, 'I Know' is pure Balearic summer - a theme that continues throughout the handful of tracks to digest. The pumping bass line gathering momentum within 'Green Light', the dreamy top beats of 'How To Build A Life Raft': this is music to soundtrack a summer of throwing oneself around distant dancefloors.

The pathos that envelopes 'How To Build A Life Raft' is intoxicating, and their talent for production and clever use of guest vocals suggests that we should anticipate an album's worth of material. Not least on closing track 'Lituya Bay' with its beautiful string and piano arrangements suggesting Saturday Night Gym Club are just as beguiling in their more pensive moments.

Natalie Kaye