The rest of the album is a similar string of distressed vintage pop songs, built out of razor-sharp guitars that cut like a surfer through the surging waves and melodies that haunt (the bitterly sad "Heaven Help the New Girl") as often as they open out into mini-anthems perfect for a sweaty night at the local indie disco ("Only Lovers Left Alive"). Not far behind are the singles "Weekend Without Makeup" and "Separated by Motorways" - tracks that have the dark drama of film noir and the piercing hooks of new wave bubblegum - and almost on the same level is the disco ball-shiny "Giddy Stratospheres." The latter is Jackson's best performance she inhabits the role of the angry jilted lover with the kind of brio few other artists can match. "Once and Never Again" is their bid for classic status, and it romps and rolls like the Buzzcocks while dishing out pearls of hard-won girl group wisdom. Without her at the helm, the songs would be top-notch punk-pop with her they shine like stars. Sometimes she plays the wise older sister, sometimes the femme fatale, but she's always compelling. The rhythm section is tight and full of snap, the guitars are loud and loose, the occasional keyboards never intrude, and Kate Jackson delivers the lyrics like an actress inhabiting a role. Like those bands at their best, the Long Blondes transport the listener to a world all their own, crashing through the songs like they were on a happily inebriated night out, soon to arrive home with smeared makeup and stray flakes of glitter in hard-to-reach places. Their mix of unschooled enthusiasm, pop culture voraciousness, and eye for a glittering hook give them a leg up on their sometimes dowdy contemporaries, and affix them securely on the continuum that scratches from Roxy Music to Blondie to Pulp. With the help of Pulp's Steve Mackey on production duties, the band hammer out a dozen memorable songs (mostly written by guitarist Dorian Cox), punctuated by some all-time classics. Following a series of exciting singles that served notice that the Long Blondes were on the cusp of brilliance thanks to their energetic marriage of post-punk energy, new wave hooks, and junk shop glamour, the group delivered the goods like Santa on Christmas.
Someone to Drive You Home is a perfect debut album.
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