The LaFontaines

Class

(889 Records)

The LaFontaines are one of those home-grown success stories that seem to have flown in under the radar: from the T Break tent to T in the Park main stage in only four years. The Motherwell five-piece are a phenomenon live, and their party band credentials have translated from the stage to the studio for this debut album. Opening track Slow Elvis promises the heaviest rock-rap guitars since Run-DMC flirted with Aerosmith on Walk This Way, but the hybrid is more relevant on local terms: the blues-rock holler and handclap beat of Under The Storm plays to fans of The Fratellis more than a hardcore hip-hop crowd, while Castles and All She Knows have Twin Atlantic deep in their DNA. Frontman Kerr Okan sets the rhythm of his words to the swagger of his walk, balancing the class chip on his shoulder with some deeper social observations. But it's when they slip the rock shackles - the Beastie Boys ballpark of King, with its guitar riff buzzing like a wasp in a jam jar - that they become more interesting to these ears.

Alan Morrison