Album: Cat's Eyes, Cat's Eyes (Polydor)

I can't abide The Horrors' second-hand Goth schtick, but singer Faris Badwan's side-project has much to recommend it.

He and Canadian Rachel Zeffira offer their own take on the Spector/Wilson notion of teenage symphonies, incorporating the Pet Sounds atmosphere of love-struck wonder on "The Best Person I Know", widescreen symphonic pop on "Face in the Crowd", and keening antiphonal strings and horns on "Sooner or Later". Zeffira's facility with reeds, keys and strings ensures constantly interesting textural shifts, while the combination of Badwan's imperious, Scott Walker-esque baritone and Zeffira's varied vocal stylings recalls not just Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra but even the effervescent charm of The B-52s.

DOWNLOAD THIS Cat's Eyes; The Best Person I Know; I'm Not Stupid; Sooner or Later