Two Choices are a young quartet based out of Brighton who have just released this, their debut mini-album independently. The album cover, showing the four clean cut young men is perhaps a little disconcerting, as are mentions of McFly is various reviews but that in no way  prepares you for what is to come once the CD hits the stereo. Whilst the band describe themselves as rock meets pop punk what the first few tracks sounded like was classic AOR. Opening track, and current single “Take Your Hands Off Me”, is a catchy summery tune with excellent melodic vocals, perfect harmonies and a chorus that will stick in your head for days. “Get Away” starts with a nice little riff and ends up sounding a little Journey-ish in its’ structure and “Through To You” is reminiscent of the first Diving For Pearls album. I haven’t heard such pure guitar driven pop-rock done this well since the late 80s and early 90s.

As the album continues the band start to stretch the formula a little with “Start It Over” leaning a little towards pop-punk but incorporating different sounds and tempos as it develops. “Story Of My Life” is maybe the weakest song of the seven here but “Night To Remember” with its’ heavier, darker riff and thumping ending mixing in with yet another catchy layered harmony chorus gets things back on track. It even has a guitar solo, a rarity on the album showing how song focused this band is. 

The title track closes the album with another breezy dose of melodic vocals and driving guitars and makes you wish there was more to come. It’s great to discover a young British band playing music which harks back to the days when Harem Scarem, Diving For Pearls etc where in their primes, even if the majority of the fans the band will likely pick up won't have a clue who those bands are. This is unashamedly radio-friendly rock and hopefully will get the airplay it deserves. Hopefully a full-length release will be on the cards in the not to distant future.

Contact:  www.twochoices.co.uk

Ian Sutherland