We’ve heard of The Posies but never anything by them. They’re from Bellingham, Washington — also hometown to Death Cab For Cutie — and been going since 1987, so we’ve either missed them or they’ve managed to remain cult.

They play clever power/pop that reminded us most of Fountains of Wayne; they’re better than FoW, who we always thought had a faint air of smugness/cleverness about them that detracted from the music.

The Posies are clever and play tightly constructed pop tunes but have a genuine indie band feel to them. It’s a definite grower and we enjoy it a little more each time we play it; to say we like this album sounds a bit feeble but we actually like it. It’s a likable album and its quality is constant throughout.

Opener We R Power! is a flat-out pop tune, with rousing chorus, snare fills like machine gun bursts and a nice riff.

Unlikely Places is a clean and clever pop tune very much like FoW while the enjoyable Titanic opens with a tight drum section that’s from the Death Cab book on song intros. It’s an excellent, atmospheric pop tune. Squirrel v Snake is as average as The Posies get and even that’s as clever as Stephen Fry after eating a clever pill.

Fan reviews on the interweb diss songs like the electrodance tune The Definition, but we like it; it’s not the best song on the album but there’s nowt up with it.

If you like quality, grown-up pop, try We R Power! (That ! is in the title, not us getting excited).