When the all conquering challenge of discovering love and retaining it arrives, most of us deal with the difficulties in different ways. Some are known to keep lips firmly closed, to the extent where our sought after love eventually disappears. Some are more expressive, sporting a confidence many of us envy. Some take it to the next level, even, whereby they’re not just unsubtle about their intentions, they’re a little nauseating. If we put all this together in the scope of musicians and their songwriting, there can be no more fitting, current, musical equivalent of the final of the aforementioned ‘types’ than Cuckoo Chaos and their debut release, Woman. Though not quite the complete caricature of Yoni Wolf’s “Stalker’s my whole style and if I get caught I’ll deny, deny, deny”, the general mood of the San Diego troupe’s first work is one of unadulterated, slightly stalker-ish, lovesick joy.

Supporting these simple messages of adoration is a jaunty, predictably tropical spectrum of sounds; somewhere in between the nervousness and ecstasy of a first date and the party atmosphere of a honeymoon on the Bahamas. The guitars are sharp and fidgety, the vocals always cried out, never softly applied. To say it’s Vampire Weekend without the wit and the popular appeal might be a tad harsh, but you could see many a cynic turn away from the moment ‘Jesus Flag American Fish’ offers its first hullabaloo’ed order of “Get up! Get up! Get up!”. For those of you tired of the very word ‘Afrobeat’, this is one to avoid.

If you’re not turned away by either the sweetly-spoken infatuation or the tropical flavour respectively, you’re allowing yourself to be won over by, in actual fact, a fairly good record. Yes, most of these songs are obvious in their objective and as a result, the album as a whole will tire after multiple plays, but as a collection of fast-paced, well-written love songs, it takes some beating. The hooks on songs like ‘Healthy Ghost’ and ‘Bad Bad Men’ are immediate, riveting things; an utter delight to listen to. And though ‘Slut Barf”s guitar work teeters suspiciously into second-rate Maccabees territory, there’s enough elsewhere on this seven-track debut to become occupied with.

And even if the whole love thing doesn’t float, something can be taken from ‘Possessed By A Corpse”s opening mantra of “Cheer up, you’re looking so sad / You know that life ain’t so bad / Oh what a feeling, it is so alive / You’ve got to survive”. Woman is an album with more than one dimension – it’s easy to be turned off by the puppy love, but there’s a sense of joy throughout the album that gives reason for the listener to simply ignore the lyrics and enjoy the stirring, rapturous sensations.