Sedaced is a group of four friends trying to make pop music. And who the fuck knows what pop music is?

We do have a “sound” in our heads and it’s so great. But we’ve no idea quite how to get there. We are going to try anyway, and every little while we’re going to pause and document where we’ve got to. And we can listen and know how far away we are from the “sound”, and you can listen and understand a little bit more what the “sound” sounds like. Until we reach the “sound” (which we may never do) you’re going to have to go with it and trust us, or go back to your trusty old pre-Bruce Maiden albums, or your trusty old pre-Dolphin SLF albums, or whatever else you were listening to before you read this. Please God not jazz.

Scott has been playing in punk rock bands since a tender age. Post-puberty these include Appleorchard, Broccoli, Shonben, The ‘Tone (briefly), Dead Inside, and (perhaps) Hard Skin. Scott met Akiko when her band Hug played with Broccoli in her native Japan, and when she moved to London it was only a matter of time… Diane is Scott’s sister, and when she followed Scott’s move from Scotland to Gipsy Hill, South London, she was easily persuaded to chuck the cello for a bass guitar. Dave was a friend of a friend who knew far too much about good music to just leave in the pub where we found him, and so the band was born.

After much deliberation (as is usually the case), it was decided the band was to be called “Decades”, as (a) this was a Joy Division song and (b) somehow signified that the band’s music was to be timeless. Sadly when it came time to secure a domain for the website, www.decades.co.uk and www.decades.com were both already taken, and so we reversed the order of the letters and came up with www.sedaced.com, after which we thought “fuck it, we are to be called Sedaced” – although dim people with only a basic grasp of the English language frequently pronounce this “se-dak-ed”, it would mean that it should be pretty easy for Google to find our website.

Honestly, I feel about the same way about Sedaced as I did about Apple Orchard. I feel like I should be freaking out over it because it has all the markers of Broccoli-style punk rock that I should like. However, there's something oddly reserved about the music, like the band is self-consciously trying not to make their music too energetic. At moments like the chorus section on track three (none of the songs have proper titles, by the way) I try my best to find my way to that musical place where I'm singing myself hoarse and pumping my fist along, but for some reason or another I can't make it happen.

That's not to say that the music isn't pleasant, though, because it certainly is. In fact, there are moments throughout Eh that are downright sublime, like the little chord change in the middle of the first verse to track 3 or the intro riff to track 6. After all those years of playing music, it's obvious that Scott really knows his way around a song, so if you come to Eh looking for anything but the most sophisticated musical craftmanship you're going to be disappointed.

So all in all, I think that Eh is a release that will please fans who are buying it because of all of the bands that Scott has been connected with in the past. However, if you're not already intimately acquainted with Broccoli's Self-titled 12" and their Singles CD on Rugger Bugger as well as Shonben's 1999 CD on the Newest Industry I'd suggest checking those out first, because they have most everything that Eh has plus a brimming, youthful enthusiasm that you won't be able to resist loving. (Daniel)

I have to say that it sounds way better on my shitty car stereo than on my headphones mind you, am not at all sure why that is. I guess that my car stereo makes the recording sound a bit more raw (or faster, somehow!), whilst on my headphones it seems tamer. Peculiar. Either way, this transports me back to when I first heard stuff like this in 1998, and does a great job with it. Excellent release, even if it sounds better in my car than it ever does indoors. (Andy Malcolm)