Sticky Fingers – 'Juicy Ones' & 'Murderous Nerves'

Sticky Fingers – ‘Juicy Ones’ (mp3)

Sticky Fingers – ‘Murderous Nerves’ (mp3)

There are always those bloody festival punters I get stuck next to in the pit who put their dreadlocks so close to my face that I can taste henna ointment and lentil chutney. I’ve sat through too many awful consecutive renditions of ‘No Woman, No Cry’ by neigbourly compatriots camping next to my tent at Falls Festival to ever appreciate anything associated with reggae again.

I’m no expert in reggae, so if it sounds somewhat coherent, in tune and adopts some kind of swaying cohesion, it’s sweet music to my ears. When these guys described themselves as garage/pop/reggae I wasn’t quite sure to pull out my serious scorn or take the piss. While Sticky Fingers sounds more like the name of a roving kids craft centre or the title of a b grade porno, I’m getting into this.

Juicy Ones delivers translucent layers of jewel toned riffs over a vibrant pop melody.  Dylan’s crisp tone has chutzpah, but an added effortless restraint to it that guides SF’s sound through this with absolute ease. Loose tuning on the ends of most phrases add a nice tempered dimension to the track too.

Murderous Nerves serves up the band’s reggae leanings. And as ugly as you’d imagine the spawned offspring of british hued indie pop and reggae to be, the end product ain’t all bad. Smokey, musky atmospherics here that could easily slot straight onto one of those dub mixtapes most bars seem to whack on between sets.

At the 1:43 mark I’m picturing Kyle Falconer from The View staggering around stage blowing smoke rings and donning raggamuffin beads and hemp-dyed pants. Oh! What a turn on. There’s something about reggae dub beats that brings out the best of stoned ‘come-hither’ faces in most people. Whatever it is, it’s working it’s charm.

The band have managed to develop a fresh, clear-cut sound without flaunting too much studio polish. They’ve glazed that ‘r’ word with a nice twist, and I’ve just given in.

www.myspace.com/stickyfingers_

* Sticky Fingers will be playing with a hoist of other schweeet bands (Howl, Puta Madre Brothers, Traps, Guineafowl, Parades & more) at Oxford Art Factory’s 3rd Birthday on the 20th of Aug.