As the five members aren't old enough to play at venues that serve alcohol, Britain's Cajun Dance Party have channeled the creative energy new bands usually spend on touring into their debut album. Their first single, "The Next Untouchable," released a year ago, promotes their appeal magnificently: a hyperactive circular guitar riff reinforcing vocalist Daniel Blumberg's clearly enunciated hurt feelings.
Anyone over the age of 19 will recognize those feelings as the overreaction of a callow youth and roll their eyes accordingly, but elsewhere Blumberg tries for sensitivity beyond his years. Unlike, say, Be Your Own Pet, a teen punk band who stick to kid stuff both musically and lyrically, CDP are undaunted by their lack of life experience. Hence they engage a wide range of styles and emotional situations, from the propulsive isn't-youth-grand anthem "The Colourful Life" ("Don't have to spit out your thumb or your Wrigley's gum") to the heavy-breathing heartbreak ballad "No Joanna." Lovers of adolescent abandon will find plenty to appreciate in the upbeat numbers, and teenage girls will discover more than enough to love in Blumberg's curly-headed adorability and willingness to throw his heart out over the footlights.
Even cynics can gain something from CDP's precociousness. I didn't know what the title of track 6, "Amylase," meant so I looked it up. It's an enzyme that converts starch to sugar — and the perfect metaphor.