Scottish popsters Tango in the Attic have a pretty whimsical name and make music with a similar sunny disregard for taking it too seriously. Their debut album Bank Place Locomotive Society arrives on the doorstep of a particularly promising summer; can it successfully soundtrack the season?

Well, within the first minute of opening tune ‘One Step Away’ I was already struggling to decide which of the many hooks took precedence in my head. This is a band who are not afraid by any means to bombard you with catchy vocal melodies, bouncing bass and reverb laden, jangly guitar riffs not dissimilar to Moshi Moshi stalwarts Hot Club de Paris, or The Drums covering Blink-182.

To clarify, this is not high-concept pop, and I mean that in the best possible way. The songs never have more embellishments than they need; the hooks and grooves have plenty of room to breathe in terms of instrumentation, even if for the most part the pace is so lively that they don’t exactly give you time to contemplate them. Within ten minutes you will have heard four songs, and these four are uniformly great examples of short-and-sweet pop nuggets.

Fifth track ‘A Healthy Distraction’ has a slightly more extended running time but still shies away from any filler whatsoever. Still, it doesn’t quite possess the spark that the opening quartet of tunes do; it’s hard to discern exactly what feels missing, but it’s a small misstep and then only in comparison to what has come before.

Indeed, whilst the middle third of songs on the album aren’t as instantly recognizable as keepers, the final third comes tantalizingly close to regaining the unabashed joy that introduces this debut. Relatively speaking, ‘Whiskey In The Wind‘ is a little less breakneck but due to the interlocking rhythms and the gorgeously measured chorus is easily one of the strongest tracks.

Pay close attention to the lyrics too: ‘The night is ripe/for drinking whiskey in the wind’ might not be wildly profound but it’s still more evocative than the usual lyrical fare of bands in a similar genre. Also, call it positive racial discrimination if you will but I can’t help but feel that that line in particular, as well as plenty of others on this record, just wouldn’t be the same without vocalist Daniel Craig’s Glenrothes inflections.

Ultimately this is a rewarding, confident debut marred only by slight repetition. More upbeat than Scottish compatriots We Were Promised Jetpacks and less mathy than Trapped In Kansas, Tango In The Attic are nevertheless another fantastic addition to the incredible Scottish scene right now, and definitely have a plenty broad appeal. Get your dancing shoes on for sure.