The School 
All I Want From You Is Everything Elefant Records

This is the sound of endless summer with the threat of perpetual heartbreak on the horizon. The School – now 8 years old and counting – have elements of girl-group pop, northern soul and C86 indiepop, all sweetly arranged as a sugary-sweet treat but often with a bittersweet aftertaste. Liz Hunt’s ‘All I Want From You Is Everything’ is 60s shimmer-pop with a charming innocence, all floaty backing vocals, glockenspiel tings and guitar twangs, while ‘Baby Don’t Hold Your Breath For Me’, written by Simon Love, is cool fingersnapping pop with a darker edge. ‘I Will See You Soon’ is made for indie dancefloors, with its mix of pop and northern soul, while the EP ends with a cover of Howard Greenfield and Carole King’s ‘Crying In The Rain’, the School version turning on the waterworks and milking the heartbreak with the saddest spoken word insert, redolent of prime Mary Weiss. The School learn from the best and their inspirations are so good that what comes out – like this EP – is musical gold.