Marnie "The Hunter"

Imagine if you started a record label and named it after a song or group or whatever that you loved more than anything.  Next, imagine how excited you would be to have the opportunity to release a record by the artist/group in question.  If it were me, I'd be dancing on the ceiling!  I suspect that the kids behind Soft Power Records are pogoing 24-7 in disbelief at releasing the debut solo 7" by Helen Marnie from Ladytron whose song "Soft Power" gave their label its name.  Of course, these things can go slightly awry.  I'm sure Alan McGee was infeasibly chuffed to release a single by The Creation ("Creation" had the catalogue number CRE200 but is nowhere to be seen on YouTube) but the record itself was an amiable plodder that didn't match their 60s recordings for pop art brilliance.  Luckily for Soft Power, the Marnie single is a belter.  Had it been released in another era, teenagers would have heard it on Saturday morning TV, dashed to Woolworth's to exchange their pocket money for it before sprinting home to obsess over its dreamy melody, singing along till they were hoarse.  It's "With Every Heartbeat" brilliant.  It's "Hunting High and Low" brilliant.  It could single-handedly rekindle my interest in heartfelt machine-age pop music.  There are only 500 copies of the 7" vinyl - 200 clear for pledgers/300 black for non-pledgers - so some urgency in buying is required!

  

Soft Power's previous vinyl release was this entirely successful foray into cute, disco-ready pop:

In the year of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" and the (welcome!) festival ubiquity of Nile Rodgers and his current incarnation of Chic, it should have been a smash.  The sound of young Dublin is liquid and effortlessly funky!  I'm glad Soft Power isn't afraid of pure, chart-friendly pop.