Brilliant Mind - Our Osprey

There has always been a tendency for the music press (both professional and amateur) to want to bundle up bands together in some form of ‘scene’ or musical movement - sometimes in a geographic context. Brooklyn and California seem to have had UK writers hyperventilating at their word processors like six year olds at Christmas and whilst we’re not about to sick up an ejaculatory load of verbal diarrhoea in an attempt to mesh together a group of artists, we have noticed that a number of acts that we are enjoying are hailing from the North East of the UK. We’ve already featured acts such as Let’s Buy Happiness, the dance floor mischief of Razmataz Lorry Excitement and the established heritage folk beauty of The Unthanks - all highly diverse but consistently good. There’s also plenty of other brave exciting acts from the Toon and its environs such as Nadine Shah and Viva City who are jostling to be our next new favourite thing. But right there in the middle, with elbows out, fighting for space are this next gang.

“You must be out of your brilliant mind,” one hit wonders Furniture once sang back in 1986. Not so much out of it, but in it; James, Paul, Callum, Kate and Josef are the young hopefuls who form the group named Brilliant Mind. They create a very British construct of the word indie, the kind of thing that bands such as The Drums and The Killers for all their claims of UK influence will never be able to pin point as exactly as groups that hail from northern working class UK cities. Brilliant Mind have precise jangly guitars, tunefully effeminate vocals and a dose of intelligence that bands such as The Smiths, Pulp or The Housemartins delivered before indie became bastardised by Brit Pop (versions 1 and 2). Brilliant Mind will appeal to confused teenagers, both boys and girls, who need delicate anthems of joy to express themselves on the indie dance floor. Their debut single Our Osprey, released today, features vocals that swoop, dip and flow in a fragile embrace against music that twitches and clasps against the ears in confident delight. Brilliant Mind? Brilliant band. Like the first kiss of a very British summer.

You can hear Our Osprey by Brilliant Mind below and can purchase the single as a digital download or one of one hundred limited edition cassettes that comes complete with a hand printed cover, badge, mini poster and a photograph of some of the bands favourite South East Northumberland industrial estates.