>If you were to draw up a list of all the necessary things to make an acers band, it’d probably be surprisingly light on ingredients. The list might read along the lines of: great choruses, satisfying chord changes, Keep-It-Simple,-Stupid Lyrics and a working knowledge of what makes the audience decide to get sweaty and excitable – a list that’s temptingly short and sweet. It’s probably this innate simplicity that is the reason for hairy teenagers everywhere to ask for a £69.99 Argos guitar for Christmas in the first place.

The truth is though, that, like unicycling whilst juggling flaming chainsaws, combining all of these things is a lot easier said than done. It’s also why we have to settle for bands like the Kooks et al whilst we wait for the really good bands – who can alchemically squeeze all the simple stuff into their songs – to come along. So, tip your hat, then, to Today’s New Band, The Gravity Crisis, who might just have got it all right.

What’s most exciting about their un-self-consciously fun, catchy songs is that just when you think they might start to wander dangerously close to convention, or repetition, or conservativeness, they veer off in a burst of fuzzy guitar happiness, tails wagging and tongues lolling. Japan is HUGE and crunchy, Animator has all the whoa-oah choruses you’ll ever need and Medicine has howly, simple guitar lines that you’ll spontaneously hum when you’re pouring your cereal next week. The Gravity Crisis are the indie dictionary definition of early promise. Fingers crossed!

Listen to their bounce-a-delic songs here – it’s like the feeling of meeting an old friend you’ve not seen for ages.

And Finally…

A Brief Overview of 2000 Trees Festival –

1. Mud
2. Rain
3. Cider
4. Hayfever
5. “Gong Showers”
6. Lovely People
7. Sunshine that comes too late
8. Best band of the weekend – Art Brut. Like, durrrr.