text: "All I Can Do" by Trust Club
  ReviewTrust Club's new EP ‘Slump', which comes out on 16th August (there is a launch gig the previous night at Leicester's Firebug), is of course the follow up to their ‘This is Trust Club' EP (reviewed last September) but the story is neither as straightforward nor conventional as one might think: all five tracks ("All I Can Do", "Fall Asleep", "The Fear", "Feel It Like You Do" and "Not Quite") were recorded (they were produced by Nathan Morris at 300 Acre Studios) at the same time as the tracks released on their previous EP: the band seem to have separated them out into two sets based upon tone: they feel that these five "represent the heavier and darker side of Trust Club".
  Like many others, they have chosen to release some (in their case three) tracks prior to the EP itself coming out, and as you can calculate, they'll be appearing at a brisk rate.
  "All I Can Do" is the first & it's out right now. Today. Taking the sound of The Cars as a starting point, it's a power pop track of considerable attractive qualities (I think the "darker" tag is relative rather than absolute). It helps that the style is a long term favourite & I certainly listened to The Cars: so I'm biased in its favour (disclosure alert) but it's so infectious that I honestly think that references to long defunct bands or even a genre which oddly seems out of favour (or at least the expression is) are irrelevant: like everything else, take it for what it is & enjoy it on its own many merits: the band (Matt Good on guitar and lead vocals, Ali Hutton (drums & backing vocals) and Noah TH on bass and backing vocals) reveal that it's "a favourite singalong track live" and frankly I'm not a bit surprised.
  Dark it's not really, but it's reasonably heavy & certainly has jaded edges which add spikes to the melodicism and these give us things to hold onto as well as adding spice & savour to the pop.
  It would have been a contender for commercial success back in 1979 when all the big labels & mainstream media were looking for this type of music (and before their butterfly minds got distracted by New Romanticism): obviously it's just as catchy in 2024 as qualities remain constant. Can it be successful? Well it has the right ingredients & it's certainly the most commercial Trust Club song to date. Fingers crossed that it gets exposure.
  You'd be advised to get your heads round this excellent single quickly as its successor is hot on its heels, arriving on August 5th.
  You can also catch Trust Club tonight supporting Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam at the Hare & Hounds in Birmingham.