Canada’s Tokyo Police Club are the posterboys of heartfelt hard-and-fast indie pop. ‘Champ’ follows the release of the excellent ‘Elephant Shell’, and like its predecessor drips with North American boyhood and cajole. Openers ‘Favourite Food’ and ‘Favourite Colour’ are the first signs of songwriting maturity, but TPC keep their trademark sound snug against their chests – the sound that is at once warm, tight and breathtakingly exhilarating – following right through to ‘End Of A Spark’ and the bittersweet ‘Frankenstein’. Again, like their previous work, ‘Champ’ is a short and sweet affair – but not one to miss or forget.
8/10
Words by Teri Williams
