SUN GUITAR POP WITH ADDED SPARKLE

They're young, they're loud and have little experience in the music world, but London's Sun could well be one of the surprise smashes of the summer.

They're part of Polydor's exciting new roster, which also boasts such promising hopefuls as Manchester's Dust Junkies and Limerick's The Driven - acts who should follow in the hit-making wake of such indie style acts as Cast and Shed Seven.

Sun's debut single (out on July 29) is a fine blast of guitar pop with gloriously tight harmonies making them sound like a punk Beach Boys. Their live set is sparky, with the guitar noise orchestrated to bring the most out of the harmonies and, at times, they are redolent of wacky US new wavers Weezer.

It's not a comparison either band or their A&R are too bothered about, but both parties are eager to stress that the band has its own sound and identity. Sun were signed to Polydor by senior A&R Paul Adam after hearing two demos and seeing an early gig. He was initially unimpressed. "The first demo was just OK, but when the manager came back with a second tape there was a song on it that just blew me away," he says. "I really wondered what the catch was, whether they had three heads or couldn't cut it live, but when I saw them play I was convinced."

That song is Lava, which is scheduled to be the band's second single. Before that comes the debut EP led by There Will Never Be Another Me. It is a startlingly impressive blast of guitar-driven pop with glorious harmonies, but Adam says Polydor isn't putting too much emphasis on the track bringing immediate success: "It's basically a set-up release, something to get the band noticed. All the tracks are good but they have another three or four songs lined up which are far more impressive."

The songwriting force in the band is frontman/guitarist James Broad, a gangly 24-year-old, who could turn out to be one of the UK's better post-Britpop bets. And he's convinced his outfit have more to offer than most of the swathe of acts currently fighting for recognition: "There are lots of OK bands out there but not too many with good songs. A lot of them don't have the basic stuff, whereas we are a lot more song-based."

Broad says the band decided to opt for Polydor because they felt the label could devote time and energy to them.

He says, "After meeting all the A&Rs, we were all hoping that Polydor would put in an offer and we were delighted when they did. But we also felt that the label didn't have really huge acts and could therefore pay more attention to us. It seemed to work for Cast and Shed Seven."

The band have already toured the UK in support of Whipping Boy and Strangelove. Broad says, "We set a little test to see how well we were doing. If people stood in front of the stage and stayed there - even if it was only 12 or 15 people - we knew we were having some kind of effect."

Generally, the response on the road was good, but Adam is being cautious about Sun's immediate prospects: "I sign bands I think are great, but you can never tell what the future holds. But I really believe there's a big market for Sun because the songs are so strong. It's always dangerous to make predictions, but I think the band have a potentially massive single in Lava."

what an interesting read!

If you ever needed an example of how fantastically clueless Polydor could be at handling Silver Sun, this would be it.

(Strangelove were great, mind. But what a ridiculous mismatch...)