All Ears: … Of Diamonds ‘… Of Diamonds Theme’

In an almost unprecedented move, it’s two-posts-for-the-price-one-Thursday here at MNFB. Usually, you’re lucky if you get two posts in the same month, let alone the same week. The same day? We are feeling a giddy and will probably need a little lie down soon.

So, anyway… we like ellipses round here so this lot are causing us some bother with their very name. For example, we can’t use an ellipse in the title like we usually do, because it looks all odd. So from now on, it’s dashes until we are once again writing about a band without an ellipse in their name.

… Of Diamonds are a girl group from Norwich. They do a kind of harmonious electro pop – which makes them sound like St Etienne, which they don’t. It’s much more raucous than that, much edgier. How much more edge we don’t yet know, because like all the best things, we only get a tantalising glimpse into their world. The YouTube channel features three short videos, which are a bit like peering at them through a fuzzy keyhole. The canteen video is strangely unsettling. They appear to be in Japan, possibly. What we really like is how in this plugged in, switched on, head-full-up world they’ve managed to grab our attention without, like many new bands, having to chuck the kitchen sink at us.

Also on offer are three tracks to flap your ears along to. They say they want people to be able to whistle their tunes, which is always a good thing. And we suspect, when all is revealed, they may well do whistleable by the wheelbarrow.

We really like the wigged out Kraftwerk of ‘… Of Diamonds Theme’ (see above) and the Stereolab-ish ‘Weirdo’ (available as a free download from Soundcloud), but our favourite so far is ‘Frank Says’, of which we only get an tiny glimpse, but it mixes the sweetest la-la-las with a more sinister vocal that stabs at you like knitting needles. It comes on like something we can’t quite put our finger on. Answers on a postcard if you can name that tune. We think it might be Underworld?

Apparently, there’s live dates lined up for October. We’ll be there, no doubt.

More hear…
- A free download of ‘Weirdo’ off of soundcloud.
- A website.
- And finally, the aforementioned YouTube channel.