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Texas trio Love Inks, don’t like things complicated. They keep production unfrilly and use just electric guitar, bass guitar, and at times a Moog Satellite to accompany the vocals of the fabulously named Sherry LeBlanc.

Playing, what their Italian label Hell Yes decribe as ‘minimalist dream pop’, Sherry and co. have a very cool-without-trying vibe that could feel quite alienating, if the tracks weren’t so simple and inviting.

Single ‘Black Eye’, is a perfect two-minute pop song. And like the best pop songs, it will prove a head-sticker, especially since you’ll have the lyrics nailed within the first twenty seconds. It feels like a song you recognise, but doesn’t feel stale.

Minimalist perhaps isn’t the ideal word to describe them however, as it suggests a kind of coldness, and the stripped-back feeling of Love Inks’ songs is anything but cold. Instead, there’s a nowhere-to-hide emotional frankness to the sound, suggesting the kind of poignant, dramatic feeling of teenage love affairs and highlighter-pen hearts on graph paper.

‘Black Eye’ is out now, and the Love Inks album E.S.P will be released by Hell Yes on May 2.

http://soundcloud.com/hellyes/love-inks-blackeye