The UK, or at the very least the NME, has an obsession with New York bands. Given the size of said city it's not surprising to find that The Strokes et al are not the only ones who are based there. La Pieta are, like The Strokes, from NYC. However, unlike The Strokes, their UK review debut is on drownedinsound rather than in the NME. There is a parallel here.

The Strokes are about hype, about reviving glories of past decades, and about boys with guitars. La Pieta have no hype, sell their records through their own website (www.lapieta.net), and feature a mixed sex lineup.

Enough about pissing on Ignite's "better men's media" publication though. What are La Pieta about?

Pleasant. That's a summary for you. Summer is not an album to sniff coke to, or get laid to, or do anything much to really. Summer is about fragile relationships, girl/boy vocals, and the breezy feeling of sitting on the beach whilst the sun sets in August. Some might call it blissful romanticism, others may call it castrated Dandy Warhols.

This isn't a bad thing though. It's just different. Different to what we get in the UK at least. At a really long stretch of the imagination they could be called the US equivalent of Belle & Sebastian. But really the UK does not do this music. America does it in bucketloads though, on the underground circuit anyway. I could namecheck Gaze and The Pocket Rockets at this point but you'd have no idea what I was on about. Think Sleater Kinney playing the last Lush album and you'll be getting warm. If they played the UK they'd probably headline a Strange Fruit night.