>Greetings all, it’s not Joe, nor is it his answering machine or his manager or P.R. guy. Whilst Joe is away in Madrid sunning himself (as I’m sure many of you are painfully aware), it’s left to me to keep things ticking over. To those of you who are missing Joe already (come on guys, it’s only been three days), Scouting for Girls are not a very good band. There, I said it. Can we get on with the important stuff now? Good.

Today’s new band are “indie” according to their Myspace page. So, for the sake of perspective, are Scouting for Girls. Fortunately for me and you, Pree are what I like to call “good” indie, as opposed to, well, “bad” indie.

Luckily, the three songs that I have been able to get my hands on (as well as a couple a nice acoustic performances) display a few quite different sides to this band. “In the Parlor” has a soothing guitar riff, its sparse arrangement surprisingly complete. The slight violin and simple drums are used to great effect. It’s also very good fun, unpretentious, and short. Pree seem like a band who know they can do enough in two minutes to get you hooked.

“Light Fails” sees them in a slightly more sombre mood, a haunting piano echoing the simple melody. It’s sad, dark and just lovely enough. “Lack of Fight” has a Joanna Newsom-esque piano motif. It is unashamedly folk-ey and brash, exuding confidence but not complacency; the song moves and meanders, and essentially maintains its original thrust. By the time they sing: “We seem to pass the same moon every night, it’s only bright enough to show a lack of light”, I don’t even question it.

It’s time to face the truth guys. The moon sucks. And this is why.