This CD represents a 7-track showcase, of sorts, for Warwickshire-based instrumental trio Little Girl With Cherries, comprising Katy Brown (guitar), Catherine Preston (bass) and non-little girl James Gardiner (drums). The songs were recorded live over two separate sessions – the first (tracks 1-3) in August 2001, the second (4-7) on Valentine’s Day 2003 (which wasn’t even mixed properly, not that it matters a jot). The trio formed because of “the need to ROCK” (thanks, Diskant.net), and, appropriately, the strongest, and shortest, of the older tracks is entitled ‘Remove Your Face In The Name Of ROCK’. Um, no actually; doing that would be stupid. What isn’t stupid is the song itself, and should you want to hear it you can find it on the recent Ladyfest compilation, released through Bearos Records.

Of the newer tracks, two lack final, official titles, but first out of the blocks, ‘Penultimate Ice Complex’ is the sound of a band that has grown in confidence, and technical prowess, immensely over just a year and a half. The difference in both ability, and volume, is remarkable, with the band happy to ditch regular time signatures, and forgo actual melodies for a few seconds at a time for the sake of the aforementioned ROCK. ‘A Wash With James’ isn’t quite as pervy-sounding as the title suggests, but again it demonstrates LGWC’s ability to stir up an unpredictable maelstrom of post-punk-esque (think Shellac, maybe) noise and yet make it sound like they’re in complete control. Basically they’ve more bite, and more balls despite their 66.66% girl (grrrl?) composition, than all but a handful of instrumental acts out there. You can only assume the cherries they’ve got in their pockets are of the bomb variety.

Contact the band and tell them that they’re great on littlegirlwithcherries@hotmail.com