the metro (uk)

trashcan sinatras

by mark swanwick
january 14, 2005

It should come as no surprise to find the veteran Trashcan Sinatras on tour during the barren gig wastelands of January. Timing has hardly been their strong suit. Back when Simon Mayo ruled the Radio 1 airwaves, the Scottish quintet scored a cherished single of the week award and chart stardom beckoned. Unfortunately their record company went belly up just as their delicate reworking of Lulu's shimmering To Sir, With Love hit the shelves, and bankruptcy ensued instead.

They never deserved such luck. Debut album Cake still ranks as a jangly cult classic, introducing an innately diffident band led by a heartfelt and engaging frontman in Frank (brother of Eddi) Reader. When two further albums of unashamedly intelligent pop failed to find public attention, they were forced to sell their studio and things looked bleak.

After such tribulations you'd expect hard luck tales to dominate their recent Weightlifting comeback album - which makes the sunny exuberance and optimism that slowly oozes from it all the more surprising.

Now worldly wise where once they were just wordy, the Trashcans have come through the dark days to embrace the healing powers of hopefulness, allied to some truly remarkable pop, at turns folksy, string-laden and, naturally, jangly. Always unfashionably out of season, let them offer up the first shoots of spring in the bleak midwinter.

Originally appeared in the Metro