Folky pop-rock trio Feral Conservatives will have you singing along until "Last Light"

Whether you chalk it up to getting out of their hometown, the friendship that developed with Mark Padgett (Mae), or some strange Juju running through that bargain bin pedal’s transistors, the quantum evolution the trio has experienced since is obvious.

In the last two years, the band have etched away at the fuzzy template of their “mandolin-based indie rock” to produce a more polished, pop-leaning product. Latest single "Last Light" is no exception, picking up right where February’s too-short The Feeling Noise Becomes left off.

The threesome have been compared to college rock staples Sonic Youth and Velocity Girl but the '90s references won't stop there. “Last Light” has the whimsy of Sixpence None The Richer’s “Kiss Me” and an Alanis-esque reference to “a sunny day when it’s raining outside”. Vocalist Rashie Rosenfarb also manages to sing with the swagger of golden-era Shania Twain (think The Woman In Me and Come On Over), though her melodic instincts are closer to those of contemporaries like Frances Quinlan (Hop Along).

That bright voice and the buoyancy of the music that backs it are winning in and of themselves, but it’s the words being sung that will draw you back in for repeat listens.

As Rosenfarb says: "I wrote the song about being depressed but also in love—in a relationship—and what it's like to struggle with those conflicting emotions. Your depression affects the other person, too, so it's about that inner struggle of opposites and that push and pull. [This is] also mirrored in the music by the melancholic tone at odds with the driving, head-bobbing rhythm section. That duality interests me as a writer."

Pre-order Here’s To Almost (out 22nd January) via EggHunt Records.