Copy Haho’s solitary single and subsequent debut EP in 2007 announced them as a band very much worth keeping an eye on. A young bunch from Stonehaven who sculpted that perennial Scottish trait of discontent, and small town discontent at that, into a flickering wall of intricate guitar lines and stuttering drums propelled by Joe Hearty’s downtrodden but strangely optimistic observations on life, love and elusive happiness. So now that small town life has been replaced by life on tour and long overdue album recording sessions, is there any chance they’ve become a touch less bleak?

Well considering that opener ‘Factory Floor’ begins with the line “I’m feeling bitter, but I don’t what I’m bitter about” probably not, and indeed it’s the kind of sentiment which recurs throughout the album. This track in particular though is delivered with a kind of joyous energy which makes it easy to empathise with the misery at its core. Previous limited singles ‘Demons & Gods’ and ‘Wrong Direction’ are the only old songs to return, making it clear that they’ve poured a lot of energy in to making the album more than a retread of old demos, and both of those are also slightly altered versions which help them slot nicely into the bigger picture. The former being the most memorable, with a nifty little guitar breakdown supplementing Hearty’s lyrics: “Do you remember that catalytic reaction”. Catalytic being an apt description for the band, as it often feels like it is a friction between the different instruments which fuels the spark that is the essence of their energy.

Arguably it is too much of a spark at some points though, and the few weak links come in the form of ‘Earthquake’ and ‘Waiting For Something To Happen’ which both seem too busy, whizzing by at frantic pace without a chance to catch your breath, never mind appreciate the subtleties of both the music and lyrics. Just as well then that there’s also a few attempts to slow the pace right down, and although it doesn’t always come off quite as intended, tracks like the brooding ‘The Be Good’ works well as it gradually builds with a crest of tumbling reverb. It’s encouraging to see them spread their wings in this way, and perhaps by widening their instrumental palette a little further they could move towards the more expressive territory of their tour mates Los Campesinos! Certainly the low-key atmosphere of ‘When It Gets Dark’ comes close to exploiting this potential, just missing that vital spark, but with some wonderful imagery in lines like “Epitaphs of siblings passed, lost love and infant death / sunlight marks where they rest”. Explosive closing track ‘Accent Changed’ exhibits the group at their best musically – subtle muted beginnings swell into a rousing eruption of noise before getting toned back down, demonstrating the control they hold over their arrangements.

Truth be told there’s nothing particularly original or exciting about Copy Haho by the normal hype parameters, after all it is just boys with guitars playing indie pop, a ‘genre’ which is insanely overpopulated by tepid uninspired copycats. As such though, it becomes all the more special to find something which is completely without pretense, cavalier in its delivery of relatively intricate arrangements, and lyrically really quite entertaining and at times even moving. Copy Haho aren’t doing anything innovative or spectacular, but rather injecting a fresh life into something which had become tired, and they’re doing so with tremendous zeal. This is by no means a perfect debut, but it packs a whole load of character in to a collection of great hooks which should surely broaden their audience and could be another formative step towards a very fruitful career.