Parlour Flames
Album: Parlour Flames
Label: Cherry Red
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.parlourflames.com

In the dreamy, scheme-y, monolithic myth-making metropolis that is Manchester, Alan Wilkes is one of those people whose name is never far away from superstardom. Unpick the history of nearly all the significant groups of modern times, from The Fall to The Courteeners and you'll find pair of footnotes dedicated to Alan Wilkes and his activities.

He's campaigned to save Salford Lads Club, been in bands with ex-members of The Smiths and now here he is in his guise as Vinny Peculiar fronting Parlour Flames with erstwhile Oasis rhythm guitarist Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs.

Whether this is the start of something wonderful or simply a late Britpop curio only time will tell, but the gusto with which it throws itself into that peculiarly Manc take on British psychedelia should be applauded. It encompasses the half-spoken, half-sung backstreet epic of Never Heard Of You as readily as the silly poetry of Sunday Afternoon in which ham salad and ice cream serves as taster for Jesus in his dressing gown.

More conventionally, album opener Manchester Rain acts as an only slightly too obvious North Western answer to California Dreaming, while I'm In a Band celebrates the various masterclasses in self-mythologising that both Vinny and Bonehead have had front row seats to witness.

It's impossible to separate this album from the histories of its protagonists, but that is actually its strength. The Northern folk rock of Lonely Girls & Horses casts Vinny as a swinging 60s storyteller in the Ray Davies mode, while the psyche stomp of Broken Hearted Existentialist will speak volumes to Oasis fans.

The best though is saved for last and the euphoric charms of Too Soon the Darkness - with its story of lost love and abiding sense of hope it suggests Parlour Flames could have enough substance to stick around for a while yet.

Nick Churchill
www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk