First Look: The School – “Loveless Unbeliever”

With new albums due in the coming months from the (new) Pipettes, (ex-Pipette) Rose Elinor Dougall and Lucky Soul, 2010 is shaping up to be a banner year for big-tent, female-driven indie-pop. Add The School’s Loveless Unbeliever to that list. Like the aforementioned acts, the Cardiff group is female-fronted, shamelessly hi-fi and even more shamelessly retro, with tracks such as “Is He Really Coming Home” and “Hoping and Praying” bouncing with The Life Pursuit-level flair. As acts such as Dum Dum Girls take a stone-faced, studied approach to the past, The School offer a different period: recess. Go out and play.

The School – “Is He Really Coming Home”: mp3

(Loveless Unbeliever is due in May on Madrid-based Elefant Records; you can stream it on Spanish site Deezer; update: and apparently is out now via import.)