Villa R - Songs from the Apex

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Some special moments

Those who wear their love of sweet guitar melodies like a badge of honour should find that Villa R give them good reason to stick their chests out even further.

Brilliantly billing themselves as a "failed Irish indie supergroup" - members of Hey Paulette, Jubilee Allstars and I am the Waltons feature - their week together in a Dublin house in August 2005 has resulted in an album that gets the right mix between nostalgia and now and offers some special moments.

For vinyl collectors the opening two tracks, 'Plain Sailing' and 'Overred', would make a great 7" find - and the deliberations about whether Side A or B was the best or most wistful would swing every three minutes.

Elsewhere, there's a great follow-up single to be pressed from the joyously upbeat 'Not the Big Man' and 'Full Sound'; some time spent under cloudier skies and an odd cover of the New Order track 'Temptation' that the album doesn't actually need but which, like the rest of its companions, becomes more endearing the longer you stay with it.

Harry Guerin

Tracklisting: Plain Sailing - Overred - Temptation - Not the Big Man - Memory & Passion - Full Sound - Songs from the Apex - Coloured Lines - Deadly Muses - Murmur - Read the Signs