Railing against aloof coolness, insincerity and resolute cynicism, Kicker embrace aspects of eighties pop, northern soul and the underground in equal measure, and with it they produce thrilling, inspiring and breathtaking three minute slices of real life. This record tells the stories of inner city living (and we’re not talking the apartment and wine bar brigade here) with an element of melancholia which is tempered with an irrefutable notion of unassailable optimism, it not only tells the story of a broken heart, it tells you the other story of that heart mended, that is what sets it aside form it’s peers.

Our Wild Mercury Years was recorded in London between 2002 and 2004 and features ex-members of Velocette, Hood and Comet Gain. ‘Indie Supergroup’ you say?, well, of sorts, yes, but what is evident here is that the results of these people coming together by far outweigh the sum of its equal parts.

The record in itself is a heady, pulsating sub-soul, pseudo-pop, living and breathing document of the day to day life. Semi-menacing, brooding, uncomfortable lyrics are coated with a saccharine sweet, smooth veneer of swooning and swaying soundtracks which evoke a definite feeling of summer, of beer gardens and barbeques, of picnics and of parks, of sunburn and of sunglasses. It compels images of lazy, long, drifting sunny afternoons whilst the lyrics tell an altogether darker tale. Still, it’s utterly infectious and totally irresistible. The brass inserts on Blue are worth the admission place alone, whilst the throbbing, subversive Hammond on ghosts make it a song that you simply cannot ignore, with it’s searing, soaring chorus throwing the most heart wrenching lyrics of the year so far in your face; and just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, the male/female vocal duelling on Local Gentry puts all the great duets, George and Tammy, Tina and Ike, George and Elton and Take That and Lulu not just into the shade, but it walks all over them and then pisses on their chips. It’s that good.

Right from the start of this record, the songs are awash with chime, with melody, and with harmony. Quite simple arrangements are layered beautifully and unobtrusively to provide a big pop sound that leaves you unable to resist one last turn around the dance floor, picture the Wigan Casino in 1976, on a Friday night, at about three in the morning – yeah I know, you’re probably all too young to understand what I’m getting at, but trust me, this is the real thing. Tinged with a hint of country, laced with a certain melancholia and pinned down by a healthy dose of optimistic, heartbreaking arrangements Our Wild Mercury Years becomes one of the most perfectly flawed, beautiful records of the year so far. It’s worth a listen, it’s worth a chance, it’s worth the 43 minutes you’d have to invest in having a listen, it’s worth so much more than all of that. The only problem being, once you have spent those first 43 minutes with this record it’s unlikely you’ll be hearing anything else for quite a while.

Review of Our Wild Mercury Years, Friends of the Heroes, June 2005

Kicker's debut album is stuffed full of country soaked soulful pop tunes. At times, when Phil sings you're reminded of Lloyd Cole and the sterling work he did with the Commotions. This is most evident on tracks like 'One Summer' and 'Ghosts', which radiate with world weary vocals and bright tunes. Other times you're reminded of 10,000 Maniacs being injected with Northern Soul trumpets as on 'Blue', St Etienne with a country soul on 'After Dark' or the Byrds on 'Get Rid Of Him'. Northern Soul classic 'Since You Left' is given a country makeover but it's left to 'Local Gentry' to provide the album's highlight. It's a wonderful duet somewhere between Gram and Emmylou and Paul and Briana of the Beautiful South. All in all Kicker have made a fine album perfect for long summer evenings.

Review of Our Wild Mercury Years, Russells Reviews, June 2005

Also lobbing bricks from the top of the multi-storey car park of indie outsiderdom down on to the mediocrity-strewn pavements of the current music scene, the Fortuna Pop! ep is four covers of northern soul classics by beat combos of early-2000's renown. It leads, as is only sensible, with an utterly blinding rendition by Kicker of the Inticers' "Since You Left". Why waste adjectives - the song is great, the guitars are great, the bass is great, the drums are great... and the vocals are absolutely outstanding. And if they played Hyde Park in July they'd rip the place to shreds.

Review of More Soul than Wigan Casino, In love with these times, in spite of these times, June 2005

Formed in 1999, they released five singles on various labels, collected together on FiveFortyFives on Track & Field in September 2002. Apart from appearances on tribute albums and label compilations, they’ve been working on their difficult debut album ever since. While there’s nothing revolutionary about Kicker, they prove that even familiar themes can be reworked to new ends (just look at St Etienne).

Though some will claim to hear the influence of the Auteurs on ‘Doris Dear’, there’s more of the sound of Felt meets the Go-Betweens (circa ‘Tallulah') to the album as a whole, especially where the violin adds richer tones to the guitars. ‘New Day Fresh Start’ has real 60s brio, soundtracking a promotional movie of swinging London. ‘Now That The Autumn Is Here’ takes them off down a West Coast road, sounding like the Gene Clark-era Byrds, while the folk-rock-pop of ‘Local Gentry’, with its jangly guitar sound, anticipates the direction that Ben is currently exploring with his other band The Eighteenth Day of May. (This is Ben’s only vocal and his and Phil’s endearingly wobbly Lloyd Cole meets Lawrence singing serves to show that all indiepop should be sung in a female naïve-pop style). The album is bookended by two Phil-sung downbeat tunes that give the album its more sombre hue. Finest moment though is the off-yer-head version of the Inticers ‘Since You Left’, reaching heights that the Style Council only dreamed off in its synthesis of dancey Northern Soul rhythms, frenzied vocals, punchy guitars and wonderful trumpet and keyboards.

The album’s been a long time coming and doesn’t disappoint. It’s a glorious indiepop record, as much for catching your breath as cutting a rug, but just as sweetly still keeping the summer alive.

Review of Our Wild Mercury Years, SoundsXp, June 2005

Been way too long since we had anything to shake our asses off to courtesy of those gem pop dudes at Fortuna Pop until this dinky little treat arrived on the door step, and hey we have to admit that this another of those priceless four track / four band must have releases. ‘More soul than Wigan Casino’ gathers together the assembled talents of Kicker, Butterflies of Love, Comet Gain and Airport Girl, each going head to head with a lost classic from 60’s soul heaven. Kicker, what can I say, let’s be honest here there just aren’t enough Kicker records in the world for my liking, here seen getting to grips in splendid style with the Inciters 1965 hit ‘Since you left’ and when I tell you this is pure pop gold you better believe it. So sunny in demeanour I swear you can get tan from just playing it, so authentic it sounds like its stepped through a rip in time and the vocals well – damn just buy it and prove me wrong.

Review of More Soul than Wigan Casino, Losing Today, May 2005

The total gem is from North London's Kicker who erm kick ass with the uptempo stomper The Inticers' Since You Left, a hook happy number with parping brass, chiming organ and throaty female vocals. More soul than Wigan Casino? Chalk one up to the indie kids!

Review of More Soul than Wigan Casino, SoundsXp, May 2005

Kicker have always had that breezy cut grass shimmy and their version of ‘Since You Left’
(The Inticers - 1965) sparkles like an April shower, catching you unawares, making you grin. There’s humming, buzzing organ and snazzy little brass runs and Jill throwing herself into the vocal like a good ‘un. It’s The Style Council with the windows thrown open, designed to make you spin dementedly on the living room floorboards.

Review of More soul than Wigan Casino, Kitten Painting, April 2005.