I thought the most recent Backspace single Hold was a pretty perfect 200 seconds of spiky indie pop, so I hoped the young Leeds based band would draw a solid six numbers for their new single Lottery of Life. This is most definitely 5 and the bonus ball territory at the very least.

In lots of ways Lottery of Life continues that strong positive sound of Hold; musically there is a greater complexity and some ace mid song guitar chords going on, and a pleasing number of little sub rhythms and sound tracks intertwined throughout the tune. This is musical honeysuckle – a mad tangle of twigs, leaves and flowers – strip out a bit, and you might lose the flower, and the pleasing bulk in the bouquet.

The accompanying press release to Lottery of Life name checks Suzanne Vega and while Lottery of Life might be rather more bouncy than most of Vega’s output, the description completely hit a chord with me – this track Lottery of Life is beaty cool coffee bar folk jazz, but with a fresh indie bee sting right up its arse.

Lead vocalist Rosie Weston has developed a really cool clear vocal style and its fully on show in this this track, and it is drawn out by the full rich sound of the band, and the always always totally on point production of Gus at Gafro Studios.

I’m thinking Backspace are seriously onto something good. I really like Rosie’s vocal range with those top notes sounding pure, and it’s a really identifiable voice, great, but totally relatable too.

The song itself relates to the only vice I’ve never ever explored; gambling (OK, I don’t actually steal or murder either, it was more for writing effect). I’d personally break my heart if I lost a fiver on the lottery, but gambling is a real problem for so many people, and it’s good to have a song which highlights how crippling and destructive that urge for an instant win can have on every day life and relationships. Here Rosie explains “It’s not something that immediately came to mind as a subject for the song, but we played with several melodies and lyrics and it just seemed to evolve naturally.”

Backspace are no gamble – bankers this lot.

Words by Tiggerligger

* Images have been taken from the bands socials