Pop that hits the nail on the head. From perfectly, spot-on British pop language to a softer, more sensitive emo type approach, Plans & Apologies does it each time with conviction, directed and thoughtful songwriting. Unlike a lot of music we're hearing these days, there's a real sense of craft going on here, not just a "hey! that sounds cool.. let's run with it!" approach. Their wonderfully quirky, twangy quality backed by wet guitars and supportive textures makes this group a must for any fan of Pavement, Blur and the like.

The Derby seven-piece are back with a really rather special EP - the first proper bit of noise from them since their debut album, ‘Torn Out Pages From The Middle Agez’. You can tell from the off that this is a band of diverse interests and influences, not content to toe the line. Part Britpop, part lo-fi, part grunge… hell, ‘Crafted In China’ almost plunges into post-hardcore during its crescendo. Amid these criss-crossing genres, Plans And Apologies allow vocal melodies to get a foothold, be they of the Morrissey whispering on ‘The Paperclip Key’, or the speak/sing Damon Albarn-style on opener ‘Eggbound Mutebone’. Each track’s different: the only common thread is that of careering off in a hundred directions. Simultaneously. It’s unhinged, but in the perfect way that Pavement were, where you’re happily taken along for the ride. Finally set for big things perhaps.

A lot of songs find themselves faintly praised with the description, “this track rewards repeated listens”. Essentially, the reviewer is saying “People might not get this at first, but if they’ve any taste, like moi, then they’ll get it in the end”. With its Brighten The Corners-era Pavement-style beauty, ‘Eggbound Mutebone’, the lead track on Plans and Apologies’ new EP, doesn’t merely reward repeated listens, it demands them. Powered by lead singer Dave Williams’ and his Kinks-ish willingness to address the mundane and the genuine, this track wins out through honest, old-fashioned charm. They prove it’s not a fluke by backing it up with a similarly well-realised, soft-pedalling, harmony-led charmer, ‘Everyone Song’. This is a complete gem, replete with elaborately cheeky, affectionate lyrics, deft piano touches and a cheeky Stephen Malkmus ‘ch-ch-ch’ from Williams. More so than ‘Eggbound Mutebone’, the tale of a lunchtime encounter with an evangelising Christian, ‘Everyone Song’ succeeds because of the warmth and sly humour of its lyrics. Starting off by setting itself up as a tune dedicated to anybody who’s feeling down about the fact that nobody ever wrote a song about them, it develops into a study of the complexities of writing songs whilst having a girlfriend. “Ok, so the chorus was about her too / But the verses are dedicated solely to you.” In addition to these two fully-fledged, stylised story-songs, the EP provides two minute-long, thrashy, ‘Wowee Zowee’-inflected rave-ups. In the more notable of the two, ‘Kaputchawoonga’, Williams takes his stand – “If I’m David / Then you must be Goliath” - before delivering a total trashing, in under a minute, of the sort of haircut band that we could all do without. That the track actually recalls Blur’s early gem ‘Popscene’ is a nice irony and the righteousness with which Williams sings “Vision corrupted your division!” is a treat. Goodbye, bands with heads full of pound signs, chasing deals by mimicking whichever buzz influence just worked for someone else. You won’t be missed. Here is a group which has spiky, sharp, intelligent, unruly, thoughtful, spontaneous, creative energy. There are obvious signs of nascent lyrical genius (the words are provided and, for once, it’s actually worth reading them) and a band who can kick up a gutsy, early Magic Band-ish fuss or play majesterial, stroll-tempo pop. This maverick sextet project such a sense of BAND, of togetherness, warmth, humour. They undercut the ponderous, the bogus and draw intelligent material from the everyday stuff that most others are too pretentious to consider writing about. That’s why they sound so genuine, so capable of anything, so fun. They get 5/5 for the first four tracks, but lose a point for the last two. ‘Crafted In China’ is the sort of wishy-washy emo that lots of other bands can do and is shown up by the stronger material here. And despite ‘The Paperclip Key’’s lovely closing 15 seconds, you get the feling that the track is a spliff too far over the line - a sprawl that turns into a stretch.

If things like university and life and all that kind of crap stuff hadn’t got in the way, then I’m sure I’d have a Plans & Apologies poster on my wall by now. Not that I do that kind of thing, you understand, but they are a mighty band. Like an atlas that was printed pre-1991, you never really know where you are with P&A. One minute they’re spazzing you out with the rush of ‘Eggbound Mutebone’, the next they come on all soft and subtle with ‘Nabbo’. No, I’ve no idea what these song titles mean either. But that’s the beauty of them. Live, they’re electric. But, I think it’s on record that you can really get inside the Plans & Apologies sound. Production values are set low, which is nice, and you can get a nice fuzzy sound out of an out old Woolworths guitar, as they prove here. Influences include Pavement, Belle and Sebastian, Beefheart – the usual suspects, but this lot from Derby don’t just rip them off for the sake of it. Nope, they’re got their own songs, y’see. They might play it daft on stage, but I dare you to listen to ‘The Paperclip Key’ and not be moved to within an inch of your life. Quite frankly, and to quote some burger van, I’m loving it.