Mavis are Sunderland punk rockers who like “Buffalo Tom, Public Enemy and Sleater Kinney”. Your correspondent reckons their poppier songs sound like the Lemonheads. And that’s not a bad thing. There seem to be three key elements to Mavis - ‘Be My Sound’ and ‘Valentine’ are memorable and clever in a “wish I’d written that” kind of way (that’ll be the Lemonheads comparison), ‘Logic of Jon’ is the slow, sensitive one, then there’s the likes of ‘Pigeon’ and ‘Matches and Fire’ which are suitably first rate sonic blasts of indie punk. None of the songs are great recordings but the heart and soul is there… they just need someone to help drag it out of them a little more. Get thee to Albini’s recording studio forthwith.

Write: 99 Chester Road, Sunderland, SR4 7EZ.

*E:* mavispop@hotmail.com