The Mayfair Set – Young One
The Mayfair Set was the title of a four-part BBC commission about Thatcher-era capitalists and their dealings, but this Mayfair Set are entirely more interesting. Comprising of the elusive and in-demand bedroom producer Mike Sniper of Blank Dogs fame and lo-fi icon Dee Dee from the marvellous Dum Dum Girls, this meeting of minds is 2009’s hipster collaboration of the year and make no mistake.
Those with prior knowledge of either or both will find the 8-track offering warmly familiar. Taking the trademark Woodsist label lo-fi fuzz and tinny vocal, Young One jangles along happily in a sleepy, poppy groove. It generously thinks to occasionally throw in loveable echo, slight references to the oxymoronic zeitgeist that is C86, plenty of light garage-rock and it houses both the sought after 12 and 7” releases to date.
As such, Young One may seem a scant offering to those savvy enough to have already picked those releases up, but is nevertheless a fine collection. Black Lips or The Strange Boys’ brand of contemporary garage nods away during “I’ve Been Watching You” and even The Shangri-Las are brought to mind during the girl-groupesque exchange of album closer “Cease To Be”.
Whilst remaining far from being explicitly catchy and commercially viable on a large scale, there is an irrepressible pop vein to Young One that allows it to inhabit a space similar to The Cure at their most irreverent. Sniper and Dee Dee duet throughout with spaced out, treated vocals over washes of reverb proving the album a natural extension and providing a sense of completion with regards to your no doubt burgeoning Woods, Wavves and Vivian Girls collection.