Indie mp3 - gig review - January 2008
Tonight was the first time I have seen them with the new drummer (Jonny) and guitarist (Ian from the Cut Outs). Ian's guitar playing adds a new dimension to the bands sound which now sounds absolute. The boy/girl vocals works oh so well and both Emma and Andy's vocals are stronger than ever especially on the recent single Cross The Line. Even the fact that for the the first time in the Pocketbooks history a guitar string broke(!) it didn't put them off and they still finished strongly. Highlight for me was I'm Not Going Out which I hope turns up on the forthcoming new single. In that article from a year ago I wrote that the band could be London's premier indie pop band if they sorted themselves out. For now I think they are just that. Visit blog
In Love With These Times, In Spite of These Times - on 'Cross The Line' - January 2008
"Great little single, with clever lyrical flourishes, lovely vocal interplay and a fizzingly unforgettable hook played out between organ and piano... yes the ambition perhaps outstrips the recording quality, but in our book music should always be that way round."
When we were younger we were lucky enough to see blueboy, many times. and seeing the pocketbooks last night, when it hung together, there really was a germ of that kind of greatness: not least, something of gemma and the much-missed keith in emma and andy's vocal duelling. but more than that, like blueboy, you can really feel this band, and their songcraft, growing. Anyway, this is a blazin' song. Someone should probably do a ringtone for it. Visit blog
Grimsby Evening Telegraph - article on Atomic Beat Records' Grimsby connection! - September 2007
A London-based record label is aiming to launch two local musicians into the spotlight... Read article
Too Much Apple Pie - on 'Cross the Line' - August 2007
There's something about indiepop with male/female vocals. I can't quite say why it hits the spot so delightfully but Pocketbooks are a great example of gender-blender tweeness...Pocketbooks' lyrics are eloquent and generally about the everyday rather than the extraordinary, but each song is something special...Give it a listen and then try telling me that lo-fi indiepop isn't brilliant! Read article
Simon Armitage - on 'Cross The Line' - August 2007
"Love 'Cross The Line'. It's pure snowshaker pop, and more dressing-table than kitchen sink." Simon's website
Fat and Confused - on 'Cross the Line' - July 2007
Wow! This is the kind of indiepop gem I used to thrive on, fresh and happy and recorded for a fiver in someone’s garage, done for the fun of it and all the better for it. Its like Kicker had they had better singers, the Aislers Set if they weren’t tinged with melancholy and so obsessed with distorted guitars and broken hearts. Young people taking advantage of the simple things “I’d swap some sleep for a fixed emotion/ a g&t and some sun tan lotion/ a bag of chips in a seaside coast town/ an empty seat on the underground/ a basement club where there’s space for dancing/ a conversation that’s life enhancing/ a suddentwist that I’m not expecting/ a novelette with a cryptic ending” etc…flip it over and it gets better still, Every Good Time We Ever Had is one that escaped from Belle & Sebastian, the kind of song that should have graced The Boy… instead of Ease Your Feet Into The Sea or Sleep The Clock Round, the kind of song Aberfeldy always wanted to write, I love the Pocketbooks and so should you. Visit blog
In Love with These Times, In Spite of These Times - on 'Cross the Line' - May 2007
Say it softly, but 2007 could yet become the first year for quite a while when indie-pop corners the market for the best tunes: this great little single, with clever lyrical flourishes, lovely vocal interplay and a fizzingly unforgettable hook played out between organ and piano, was the highlight of the pocketbooks' set in norf london the other night, even outranking the 12 bar blues-type number earlier on that sounded a bit like chas and dave. yes the ambition perhaps outstrips the recording quality, but in our book music should always be that way round. Read article
Tasty Fanzine - on 'Cross The Line' - May 2007
It is my opinion that Pocketbooks are just about the best group in England at this time, and ‘Cross the Line’ does nothing to dispel this. Everything about Pocketbooks is perfect, from the obvious world-weariness to the pretty, pretty music, to Emma Hall’s voice. If anyone had seen Hall sing 18 months ago, they’d be hard pressed to believe it’s the same person. On ‘Cross the Line’ her voice makes the song; it’s wonderful.
I hope Pocketbooks get the recognition they deserve, but it a perverse way I want them to be our secret forever, because they’re very much our band. And those don’t come along too often. Read review
Sounds XP - gig review - May 2007
The band win over another set of hungover hearts with their sheer charm, bonhomie and bloody lovely songs. 'The First World Record' and 'Falling Leaves' inspire impromptu outbreaks of ballroom dancing down the front, and the smiles continue right through to the closing combination of tracks from their just released debut single, 'Cross The Line'.
Pylon Sounds - on single 'Cross The Line' - May 2007
Sometimes life’s mundanities get in the way of being a grown-up. Sometimes it’s hard to decide whether to even be a grown-up, with all it entails - suits, houses and 4 x 4s. Pocketbooks playfully approach the subject, tousle its hair and take it on a tube journey in their charming debut single 'Cross the Line', a self-questioning internal dialogue tinkered out across delicious boy/girl harmonies and an irresistible tambourine beat. They have a lovely knack of transforming the workaday into the heroic - B side 'Every Good Time We Ever Had' defies an ex’s accusations of forgetfulness with a list of closely scrutinised memories buoyed up on a dramatic, ascending piano line. Pocketbooks are the best kept secret of the thriving London indiepop scene right now – see them while you can. Visit blog
Not Quite Rocket Science - gig review - April 2007
Pocketbooks were stripped back to a three piece, and yet sounded more full and tighter than i've seen them before - everyone relaxed on stage and really enjoying themselves. They're new single on Atomic Beat Records was on sale at the gig and also sounds great - nice to hear the songs 'Cross the Line' and 'Every good time we ever had' recorded properly. Read review
Indie MP3 - gig review - April 2007
It's amazing what a smaller venue and a stripped back line up can do to a band's sound. Andy's vocals were strong... Emma was brimming fall of confidence.... until tonight I haven't actually taken in what a great voice she has.
Liquor Is Quicker Fanzine - gig review - March 2007
Pocketbooks took first turn in charming the room into abeyance with their delicately tuneful cheery pop melodies characterised by girl-boy harmonised choruses and thoughtful lyrics, despite gremlins in the technical works at various points. This is the sort of music you can’t help but sway to and smile as they sing about the humdrumities of modern life and the technicalities and etiquette of romance and other stories. Visit website
Robots and Electronic Brains Fanzine - gig review - January 2007
They give us a slightly chaotic set as various gremlins make their presence felt, a chaotic but quite wonderful set for all that. Slightly unusual in employing two keyboardists/vocalists along with the standard guitar/bass/drums triumvirate, they've got themselves some good tunes and give us hugely enjoyable indie-pop in generous dollops. They're fun.
Tasty Fanzine - gig review - November 2006
Pocketbooks are jangly indie, undeniably fey and all glockenspiels, hand claps and boy/girl harmonies - general brilliant ye olde indiepop you don't hear enough of nowadays. Read review
Another Form Of Relief - October 2006
I first wrote about Pocketbooks more than four months ago and I still haven’t been able to find a picture of them in the time since. I’m starting to think they may not actually exist, or that they are cartoons like Gorillaz or something. Anyway, who cares what they look like when they throwing out top notch low-fi twee indie pop? ‘Cross the Line’ is the first song released from their new batch of recordings, and it’s easily cemented itself in place as one of my favourites of the year so far. Full of lovely imagery (it opens with “I’m asleep on a train on the Zone 2 boundary”) and basically continues as a back and forth conversation between the male and female vocalists. This takes on a nicely self-aware twist when she starts calling him on the honesty of his lyrics (”As a kid I would run through the fields and orchards” / “What about your hayfever though?” / “I’d climb the branches to the top” / “What, with your vertigo?” / “Look, I’m making all this up”). Extra points also have to be awarded for being the first song I’m aware of that actually slots in the term “Oyster card” without being entirely tacky. Visit blog
Channel 4 - Planet Sound - September 2006
(Teletext music page on Channel4 Television, UK)
"...giddy timeless bedroom dramas... a hunger and cloistered dreams are all theirs. Glorious majesty, given time. 7/10"
Nothing But Green Lights - September 2006
"... whispered and then harmonised indie pop... The Go Team with the colour taken out, and Belle and Sebastian members awkwardly inserted. The result = vivid + distinctive *indie pop" Visit blog
Lostmusic - September 2006
"Imagine Belle and Sebastian recording in a lovingly lo-fi manner. Imagine soul songs given an indiepop makeover. Just imagine. Well, that's what this five piece london band must have done when they formed. For the bands recordings are exactly that, lovingly lo fi and lovely. With a nod to Belle and Sebastian and a pocket full of 60s soul the Pocket Books make beautiful indiepop. It's a sweet sound, without everbeing sickening. This is what Talulah Gosh might have sounded like had their blueprint been 60s soul instead of 70s punk." Visit website
Channel 4 - Planet Sound - March 2006
(Teletext music page on Channel4 Television, UK)
"Running circles 8/10
"It'll sound pretty quiet on your soundtracks to driving really fast" say the London sugarpop band.
"Oh, who cares when the've got a song that's as if Belle & Seb carelessly left off Feeling Sinister?"
"It's similarly uplifting and witty, with an instantly classic chorus. Then the second song sounds like Sigur Ros coverng the Take Hart theme. Stunning."
Indie MP3 - Match 2006
"...10 excellent tracks .... If you like your indiepop as a lo-fi variety then you are not going to be disappointed by this.
"Certainly one of the brighest things shining through in the musically dull phoney war that is 2006 so far." Read article
Feedback - July 2006
(The magazine of MENSA's special interest group for lovers of rock and prog music!! - I genuinely have no idea how they came to be reviewing us...)
"Insightful lo-fi tunes chronicling everyday life's ups and downs... ...an intriguing collection of songs...."
Disposable Media - November 2006
"... fun lyrics, and it works well. Lovely stuff" Visit website
Another Form of Relief - July 2006
"... precious sounding songs about the simple things, sung in an incredibly earnest way. There's also a great little knack for pop culture references here too..." Read article
pocketbooks
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