Like some bastard union of Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Spandau Ballet, Aztec Camera and 'Wham Rap', Golden Silvers' recent single 'True Romance (True No.9 Blues)' has been one of the less deniable earworms of recent times. Full of disco keyboard stabs, funk rhythm and stream of conscious lyrics. It also acts as a signifier that, with this at one end of the scale and La Roux well up the other end, we urgently need to work out what's what in this 80s revival. Sorting the Orange Juicealikes from the Duran Duran wannabes from the Vince Clarke and Stevie Nicks hoarders and working out why nobody seems to make music that sounds like 2009 any more. None of this is the fault of the London trio, associates of the Mystery Jets and Micachu, but in a way that is partly production values and partly nostalgia for an age of 'proper' melodic songwriting with no recourse to Kaiser Chiefs bravado.While there's nothing as ultimately appealing as that recent single, True Romance is a difficult album to fully pigeonhole, we'll grant them that. 'Another Universe' could easily have been an unappealing piano ballad fronted by a man who doesn't have the most appealing singing style for piano balladry - in fact Gwilym Gold's vocal resemblance to the much derided Joe Lean, as in the Jing Jang Jong, is alarming. It slowly becomes apparent that it could just as easily be Bowie at his most insular, or the Super Furry Animals, especially when some piece of electronica breaks in during the bridge, or Patrick Wolf from the second half of Wind In The Wires. The best songs come in clumps of two at the start and right near the end of the album. In the latter sense 'Please Venus' again borrows from the Super Furries' recontextualisation of MOR. Following that, 'Arrows Of Eros' takes Haircut 100 to their white socked funk retro disco for an effect that'll sound amazing if we get the promised heatwave during the festivals, especially if they can borrow a horn section for the mad rush to the finish.There's a strength here as the band are obviously reaching for the stars, yet turn away from direct commercial potential. However, it's underminded by frustrating inconsistency, and unusually the slump is in the middle of the album. Another melancholy piano lament, 'The Seed' is Coldplay where it should be sci-fi, 'Here Comes The King' starts intriguingly with a minimal waltz time backing and doo-wop backing vocals but forgets to develop from intriguing roots and ends up like Babyshambles, while 'Shakes', with its digital baggy backing, never quite shakes off an air of the first Kasabian album. Then 'Queen Of The 21st Century' is the jaunty Britpop cliche chorus your older brother warned you about. Coupled with that wipe-clean production style that makes a few too many overt appearances, you do wonder whether they're looking for the retro trip as easy prey too often and not using that to do something entirely of their own.There's clearly something about Golden Silvers. They're relatively easy to admire for their attempt at reclassifying New Pop's post-post-punk eclecticism and Gold's lyrical romantic spirit, but True Romance is a difficult album to love while they can't work out what it is they excel at or indeed aspire to. A steadier hand on consistency and quality control would have made it fly, and you do wonder what Erol Alkan would have made of this album as producer rather than hip-in-those-circles Lexxx. Golden Silvers could turn into a really interesting band, but their baby steps are too flawed to really make an impact in a crowded quasi-nostalgia market. 55%Golden Silvers on Myspace