The act of band naming is a wade through a mire that, befittingly, makes either no difference or all the difference in the world to the band in question.

We all know that the competition for Worst Named Band is fiercely fought between Puddle Of Mud and Nickleback, both of whom managed to scrape the barrel stencilled ‘Utterly Facetious’ in their bids for the prize.

The recent craze for punctuation in band names – see Los Campesinos!, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. etc – is, sadly, an ongoing phenomenon, though admittedly, it looked  pretty zingy when Godspeed You! Black Emperor did it. Not for the first time, !!! are probably wholly to blame.

It’s hard not to conclude that Tim and Sam’s Tim and The Sam Band With Tim and Sam took one look at the whole messy process and decided that twin attacks of length and complexity would railroad any attention their way – and they were right.

Music writers, fans and radio DJs the world over will agonize thus – do you refer to them by their full name, leaving the speaker blue in the face, or use the acronym from hell – TASTATSBWTAS? Pity the teenage super-fan who wants to scrawl the band’s name onto the cover of their schoolbook.

Tim and Sam’s Tim and The Sam Band With Tim and Sam // Join The Dots

Join The Dots is so warm and blissful, it aches. It’s a conflation of all your favourite summertime experiences – the dense orange heat of a midnight beach bonfire; laying back in deep, soft, shaggy grass and lazily looking at clouds; paddling in a shallow stream; holding hands in the heat. Happiness.

There is a Tim, but there is no Sam. According to Glockenspiel-basher Massimo, the band refer to themselves as Tim and Sam, which to these eyes is a cop-out of epic proportions.

Never mind. Their music is a cosy, summery delight. This is more important.

www.myspace.com/timandsamstimandthesambandwithtimandsam