Moloko's Roisin Murphy had better watch her back; her role as Wicklow's coolest export (after various waterfalls, mountains and err, Ballykissangel, that is) is under serious threat from five twentysomething blokes known collectively as Hybrasil. The Wickla Town lads have been gigging together for the past three years, building up an admittedly-impressive fanbase (21,171 MySpace fans and counting) whilst similarly releasing a brace of EPs (We Got Music, When I'm Yawning) and a single which has rarely been off the Phantom airwaves (God Bless the Devil). The Monkey Pole, the quintet's debut longplayer, comes hot on the heels of that single's success, and is a surprisingly groovy and startlingly accomplished debut offering. They describe themselves as 'indietronic', but Hybrasil's material swaggers and spits more like a Britpop/dance hybrid that anything else, although the majority of the eleven tracks here are tinged with an electro vibe that the Gallaghers could never quite effect. The danger of such a label means that they're also open to comparison with the likes of Kasabian - and though opening track We Got Music does sound like some sort of warped Gary Numan collaboration with the Leicester outfit, Hybrasil's sound is much more old school than their 'poor man's Stone Roses' act. San Fran and Heads Up are supremely catchy offerings, the former's jerky synth buzz akin to something from The Rapture's first album; Getchoo is a spacey, Eastern-flavoured stoner-electro number; Binary Love's brilliant chunky throb sounds like A House's 'Endless Art' reworked by LCD Soundsystem, while When I'm Yawning's droning chasm of synths is almost Chemical Brothers-esque. They manage to turn up the odd surprise, too; the melodic jangle of If You Feel is the most pop-oriented thing on offer here, A Million Moments' whispery tenderness could be a Snow Patrol anthem, and meandering closer Love Is In You has the same epic quality (and use of sitar) as Jape's 'Floating'. There's absolutely no monkeying around here - Hybrasil have marked themselves as contenders with this impressive, if not entirely cutting-edge introduction.
