Saturday Flashback: Girls Can’t Catch – L.E.S. Artistes

“Actually very good.”

Tim: You may remember this lot from when we wrote about their excellent song Echo several years back; if you’ve a really good memory, you’ll remember that I mentioned that despite them splitting up the album they had recorded was due out sometime soon.

Tom: For once, I do actually remember that — which is a sign of just how good that first track was.

Tim: Well, it never came out. Not officially, anyway – it is, for some reason, available on YouTube via a Brazilian music website, and as this track demonstrates it’s actually very good.

Tim: Isn’t it? The verses are fairly standard, admittedly – say, a Saturdays album track. On the other hand, I really can’t get enough of that chorus, it’s just so lovely.

Tom: Really? Because that chorus also sounds like a Saturdays album track, crossed with Adele’s “Someone Like You”.

Tim: The ending’s perhaps – no, definitely – too drawn out; no-one has ever asked for a basically empty four bar loop repeated for over thirty seconds, but on the other hand: damn, that chorus.

Saturday Flashback: Girls Can’t Catch – Echo

They possibly had potential.

Tim: You know how sometimes you get a song stuck in your head, but then you can’t remember the name of it no matter how hard you try? Yeah, well this isn’t one of those.

Tom: When the video starts, it looks like they’re performing in front of the first second of the ‘Futurama’ titles on loop. I expected the Planet Express ship to crash into their blatantly-not-on-the-Cliffs-of-Dover stage. They also appear to be sending out dangerous blasts of light towards France – which, despite the title of the song, never echo back. Opportunity missed there, video director.

Tim: Fifty per cent of the cost of the video saved there, video director. But part of me wants them to be shot out to sea by the shockwave effect they’re going for.

Tom: “Whoops, sorry love, mistimed that one. We’ll get the lifeboat for you, just hang on.”

Tim: This group existed for about a year, had two singles, broke up the day after after being dropped about six months ago, and have an album due out on 13th December (the logic presumably being that it’s a shame to waste all the stuff they’ve recorded). Bit of a shame they split up, because I very much enjoyed this song, and they possibly had potential.

Tom: They are Another Girl Group, and there’ll be another one along in a minute.

Tim: Well, quite. They will in all likelihood never be missed, especially given that they wrote practically none of their material – even their name was second-hand, after The Saturdays rejected it.

Tom: Surely there’s a whole line in vaguely sexist band names? How about “Men Never Want To Cuddle After Sex”? that could work.

Tim: I would definitely buy a single by Girls Who Spend Money On Clothing. Mind you, we could just rewrite some recent tracks, like OMD’s Sister Marie Says Get Out Of My Kitchen, perhaps, or Robyn’s Indestructible (My Love For These Shoes).

Tom: It’s all right, folks, he’s being ironically sexist.