When’s a demo not a demo? Is a true demo a scribbled on CD in a plastic sleeve without a slip of artwork? Can a good looking, you’d-pay-money-for-it CD count as a demo? Me, I’ve no idea, hence why this three-tracker from London rockers Brigade finds itself categorised as a fully fleshed, bona fide single. The CD’s professionally pressed and the artwork’s accomplished. Thus, it’s a single, right?

Right, wrong, whatever – the sole point of importance is that this record rocks. Lead track ‘Safe Hands’ is a polished pop-rock gem in the vein of so many semi-alternative rockers; a track likely to have arms waving with equal enthusiasm be they at the Bull & Gate or the CD:UK studios. It’d be easy to play the indier-than-thou card here, and state that the song’s completeness is such that grass roots coverage is next to nonessential. But fuck it; it rocks, plain and simple. Okay, so it does so in a manner that’s perhaps a little too plain and simple for the more discerning consumer (read: indie snob), but to dismiss it on grounds of astute production and compositional simplicity (all things relative, mind) is to overlook the track’s potential impact upon your standard, buy-two-albums-a-year type. It’ll rock their world.

‘Go Slow’ is the unsung highlight here, though: a lengthy, appropriately slow-building track that opens with a nod to all things Pink Floyd before growing into a lighter-waving future anthem. Again, its slickness is such that scrubby punks aren’t going to buy into it, but to these ears Brigade don’t necessarily need to make an underground impression. These songs are the finished articles; all that’s needed is a hefty push into the hands of those mass-market consumers.

This single is available through the band’s website.