January really is a crap month. The Christmas and new year festivities have long since abated leaving a lull and Baltic weather to endure. One of the rays of light during the bleakness is the opportunity to release some life-affirming music to raise the spirits. Thankfully, the lads in The Number Ones have deployed a care package in the shape of their new EP ‘Another Side Of The Number Ones’. It’s the perfect antidote to the drudgery of January and finds The Number Ones at the top of their game.

Each of the four songs on ‘Another Side Of The Number Ones’ is punchier and rowdier than any Rousey. It kicks off with the rollicking Lie To Me. Its appeal is summed up as “short and sweet”, which, incidentally, is part of the lyrics during the chorus.

There’s a DIY aesthetic to the recording of the EP that lends extra character to the songs. It’s a little bit rough around the edges but that’s an enhancement rather than a defect. Long Way To Go, Breaking Loose and You’re So Happy I Could Cry are spiky yet charming, barrelling along with abandon. Each of the songs have an instant appeal that quickly grabs hold of you. Before you know it, it has zipped by faster than Wile E. Coyote in chase of Road Runner.

There isn’t a drastic reinvention of their formula  of brisk and fuzzed out punk/power pop since their self-titled debut album, but more of the same. In the grand scheme of The Number Ones, that really is all that matters.

In lieu of it being only fours songs in length, you have to immediately replay it to continue that dopamine rush. The Number Ones are a band that create damn fine music and the only complaint is that we don’t have more new songs to listen to.