There’s a certain theatricality subliminally associated with rock ‘n’ roll.

We all want the garish outfits, the ludicrous behaviour, the out-there posturing: witness The Darkness‘ unexpected – but entirely understandable -rise to fame a few years ago.

It’s just that most of us now hide that desire under the guise of being ”cool’.

Cool doesn’t want silly hats, or outlandishness, or fun: it wants a bunch of weedy music snobs in leather jackets glaring at us from under their ruffled hair.

Felix Hagan understands that to reject this image of cool is to move out of the pack, and its associated dubious safety.

Good. The people who step to a different beat are the ones that are moving in a different direction.

Dirty Little Urchin Child is deeply uncool. This is a complement. It’s also a pow-boom rock operetta, with the kind of immediate punch that will grasp all but the most stubbornly arch music listener.

So when the song takes a succession of confusing, sudden, left and right turns, via FM-rock boogie, stage-school stomps and rave-whistles, we’re left dazzled, then surprised, then thrilled.

Few ‘cool’ bands pack as much into one of their dreary albums as Felix crams into this one song. One to keep a jittering eye on.

MORE: felixhagan.bandcamp.com