Music

In much the same way as the burghers of Slough must have long since resigned themselves to the fact that their town’s status is defined as Wernham Hogg HQ, Staines is forever fixed in the public consciousness as home to Ali G. At least, it was until Hard- Fi, who’ve done the Surrey hamlet so great a public service they should surely be given its keys.

Hard-Fi’s current marketing campaign – entertainingly cheeky at first, but now an over-egged conceptual pudding – and singer Richard Archer’s rumoured massaging of his birthdate are mildly irritating, but both peripheral fluff. Whether or not their second LP hits the spot depends on whether the driving, Jam- and Clash-modelled melodic clamour of their 2005 debut did it for you. They play it much the same with a bit of balladry to vary the pace: ‘Help Me Please’, which suggests Billy Bragg by way of Oasis; and ‘The King’, which, frankly, is their ‘Angels’.

Hard-Fi make much of their  refusal to slavishly follow the indie-rock pack and – with their trumpet flourishes, massed vocals and apparent love of The Housemartins – they do sound bracingly out of temper with the times, but when Stereo MC’s and even Chumbawamba flash before your ears, you start to think that owning a calendar isn’t necessarily a bad thing.