Somewhere, as I write, in a muddle of packing and unpacking, and twixt Latitude and the Indie Tracks Festival, Standard Fare are trying to come to terms with being in love. Or not being in love.

Or possibly even being in love with someone who doesn’t love them back.

Here’s their album in short: Split up. Not sure if splitting up was the right thing to do. Uncertainty. Annoyance. Lover moves abroad. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Listen to self-destructive friend and their problems for a while instead. More uncertainty. Temptation. And then get back together again.

And that only takes you to about Track 6.

“There’s a lot of relationships going on in the lyrics,” says singer Emma Kupa, who’s mum was once a member of anarcho-punk troupe The Poison Girls.
“But we’ve had a couple of years to write them. It’s not just the last six weeks!”

Released earlier this year, SF’s debut album ‘The Noyelle Beat’ is is a splendid piece of Indie Pop (which is this year’s Big Underground Thing. Cue fanzine revival at any second!). If the Mystery Jets album is a beautifully glossy, grown-up piece of post-80s craftsmanship, then ‘The Noyelle Beat’ is its younger sister.

SF themselves sound a little understated in a way – especially in interviews (John Kennedy on XFM virtually had to prod them with sticks to get them to admit to the world that they were quite good). Underneath this though, you can tell they have a real belief in what they do; a proper semi-pro work ethic.

All this is encapsulated on the album. The songs just tumble out of them – bright, brisk, rousing and sad songs about trysts and getting the tremors. Musically, they sound punchy, while Kupa’s voice – a distinctive boyish girl vocal – elastically wraps itself round their melodies, stretching and searching for the sweet spot.

If you have a Spotify moment, try ‘Love Doesn’t Just Stop’, ‘Philadelphia’ and ‘Let’s Get Back Together’.

Or alternatively, we present a previously unreleased stripped down acoustic pub version of ‘Wrong Kind Of Trouble.’

Fare enough?

Standard Fare on Myspace