One of the criticisms flung at the indiepop semi-revivalists is that there's often a knowing shadow of the naif about them, that even when it's as critically acclaimed as The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart or the Vivian Girls there's a very definite continuation of the easy, deliberate underachieving of a Pastels or Field Mice. There's nothing strictly wrong about that, but the abudance of fuzz does suggest the key pop melodic components are being set aside.Sheffield-based trio Standard Fare go against that particular grain, perhaps because they're not purely a band who've risen through the twee night ranks. True, their guitars are occasionally jangly, their vocals are untutored, their lyrics are about thwarted or hopeful love and some of the songs could fall apart if prodded hard enough. But even if on paper it's all been covered long before there seems something fresh and exciting about the way they go about it, with complete knowledge of highly infectious hooks and a purely melodic pop heart.The key is the sense of longing in the midst of the Jam-recalling kinetic energy produced by a trio who've put a lot of practice into sounding like they're just hanging on to each other for dear life without turning into a (Baby)shambles. It's driven and exemplified by the vocals of Emma Kupa. Her vocal style is as bittersweetly defiant as the lyrical content, seemingly straining to hit the notes but, as demonstrated on opener 'Love Doesn't Just Stop', capable of really hitting home once getting there. On 'Philadelphia' she's reduced to a fragile state by an overseas lover before coming out with a swaggering brusqueness in the chorus despite admitting she'll "have to wait a year to see you again", which finds a mid-point in the dreaming wistfulness ("there comes a time we have to choose between what we desire and what we're prepared to lose") of 'Married'. Allied to that is the occasional co-vocal of guitarist Danny How, either complementing or vying against Kupa, jibing against and across each other on 'Nuit Avec Une Amie' against a Housemartins/Lemonheads forceful jangle.Much of this emotional directness is played out to an Orange Juice-like nimble indie dancefloor ready jerkiness, not really post-punk but more aimed towards a less disco inclined Long Blondes. If that seems a pat comparative point, don't forget Standard Fare are also a female fronted band from Sheffield and are releasing the album on the label that put out the Blondes' first single. It's a shared DNA that accounts for the ability to draw magic from uncomplicated interplay and observations made from areas long raked over by others. Plus, whereas Kate Jackson only toyed with a nineteen year old on 'Once And Never Again', Kupa makes a point of stating how she ended up with a boy of "only fifteen, what was I thinking lying in your bed?", trying to come to terms with how she ended up in that state of desperation even if she sounds somehow trying to over-convince us throughout. And then there's the gloriously perfect pop of 'Dancing', built on a skeletal guitar line and skipping drums before Emma's conflicted emotions - "do you remember you gave me another try, I knew better then to ask why" - give way into a chorus that gets it spot on - "there's always gonna come a time when we don't know the answers, always gonna come a time when we should just go dancing".The yearning triumph of the heart's will of 'Wow', which sees Kupa declare with finality "this could really lead somewhere", completes a journey of great immediacy, character and interest. The Noyelle Beat is as good an invocation as you'll find of the qualities of good, honest, ultimately likeable guitar pop in the lineage of the Popguns and first album Kenickie, even first two albums Belle & Sebastian. Indie as it used to be, so long broken down by the landfill but here taking its inspirations and crafting something that stands up for itself without allowances. Is it breaking grand new ground? Of course not. Would expressing a preference for it stand up against the sonic adventures of a Newsom or Yeasayer? Highly unlikely. Is it one of the best albums I've heard so far this year? Hell yeah.