Poor Scouting For Girls. Despite commercial success at home – their eponymous album spent weeks in the UK top 10 – the London-based piano-pop trio’s debut hasn’t received the critical nod it deserves. It’s not that it’s bad, but Britain’s pop-rock scene is synonymous with edge, breeding heavyweights such as The Cure, Radiohead, The Libertines and Oasis. So when a happy-go-lucky band like Scouting For Girls arrives on the scene, it’s no surprise that the infamously harsh UK music press lambasts them. Indie weekly NME gave Scouting For Girls two stars out of ten and labelled the band ‘like Athlete if they were idiots’; The Guardian called the album ‘a tiresome ramble’. 

Truth be told, Scouting For Girls is a breath of fresh air in an alternative music world often characterised by negative themes. The album is reminiscent of Ben Folds Five, its cheerful tunes defined by simple and catchy lyrics covering daily predicaments, such as teenage crushes (hit single ‘She’s So Lovely’), heartbreak (‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’), male fantasies (‘James Bond’) and vocalist/lead songwriter Roy Stride’s honest desire for a holiday in, um, ‘I Need A Holiday’. 

Sure, it sounds corny, but the band’s optimism will surely win the hearts of younger music fans who have outgrown High School Musical. Let’s just hope Scouting For Girls can channel that positivity without ending up a one-hit wonder.