DOGS Die In Hot Cars went for a Clashy strut but ended up sounding like The Proclaimers.
The very chanty, but not so enchanting, lead title track of EP Man Bites Man, is the most affected of four.
Queen of the Pumpkin Plukes, is gentler but it sounds like Bob Geldoff getting all medieval in our ears.
Nobody Teaches Life Anything has backward electric guitars and delicate acoustic, and is all the better for the absence of vocals.
With Pastimes and Lifestyles, the Dogs close with a romp, which is even more 80s than the above.
But it sounds like the band is desperate to break into Midnight Oil's Beds are Burning (a problem common to all the band's material), which alas they never do.
The band will play Bristol's Louisana and Cardiff's Clwb Ifor Bach on Wednesday, February 4 and February 5.
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