Some music acts shy away from the first songs they ever wrote, leaving them to gather dust in a forgotten corner, not so for April In The Shade, who have just released ‘Stop’, one of the first songs they wrote together as a single. The question is, were this four piece band right to bring out some early material, or should they have developed their songwriting more? If their recent run of sold out gigs in London is anything to go by, maybe they made the right choice, but what of my thoughts as a reviewer?

Well, ‘Stop’ is certainly a song that bursts out of the speakers, and creates atmosphere in the room! The simple instrumentation creates a cool, late night, Jazz/Blues vibe, with a slight rocky/guitar edge, and a bass guitar that’s high and urgent in the mix. This is coupled with a strong and interesting vocal arrangement from singer Holly Rhed, whose intonations on words like ‘confused’ adds to the overall effect of the song. I enjoyed this track much more than I expected, but I think the band could’ve done more with the chorus, which was very repetitive, and didn’t engage me at all. Apart from that, it’s a pretty strong debut, and should appeal to a good cross section of music fans. With stronger, more interesting hooks in their choruses, this could certainly be one band worth watching this year.

‘Stop’ is available now from all the usual online outlets. For more information on the band, please visit www.myspace.com/aprilintheshade.