Album review: Plaiins – Happy Faces

Back in the 1960s, groups from The Beatles to Black Sabbath would head to Hamburg to hone their chops in its raucous clubs. These days, there can’t be many bands in Germany’s second city who sound more British – or more raucous – than Plaiins, thanks to the otherwise native outfit’s frontman Chris Reardon. His mixture of geezerish vocals and sarcastic social commentary position the quartet as an Eastern outpost of the post-IDLES wave of fractious noise that’s left scorch marks across these shores in recent years.

Their debut album’s title-track may concern itself with the dangers of hiding behind excessive positivity, but it’s hard not to grin when confronted by its speedy garage rock. This and Hotel Biscuits pack a cheeky charge tailormade for fans of Bad Nerves or The Hives, while elsewhere Soft Play are an undeniable reference point. The gleefully gonzo riffs and lairy vocal delivery of Row She Said and C’Est La Vie particularly channel the Kent duo’s chewy charm, though Plaiins have plenty of their own identity on show throughout.

There’s also plenty of lyrical wit to go round; Sports Bar and Amazon Warehouse hit some pretty universal targets, but Be More Animal’s critique of the self-help industry is an especially sharp highlight. And then there’s the savage Do One and its takedown of music industry bullshit (‘Say something meaningful / In under three syllables’), ironically one of the most memorable moments on Happy Faces even as it suggests its creators have fallen foul of plenty of patronising advice on how to write a hit.

Plaiins might not be chartbound just yet, but this striking debut proves they’ve mastered their chosen idiom of cartoonishly gobby alt-punk. Smiles all round, chaps…

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Soft Play, Bad Nerves, IDLES

Happy Faces is released on August 15 via Long Branch