The adage ‘If you love something, set it free’ has rarely felt so apt, as I’m slightly ashamed to say for various reasons I’ve selfishly been sitting on this band for a little while now (oh, you mucky swines, how dare you, you know what I mean…).

Holding onto music for my own gluttonous consumption and keeping it stashed away from prying ears like a miserly old bint collecting trinkets is not quite the right attitude for someone who is dedicated to sharing new sonic fizz as a proud TRUANTeer, and now I’m being punished for my greed because whilst deep in my rapturous haze, the outer fringes of the music blogosphere have started to catch on.  A rising sense of panic swept over me as I realised, that’s it, they aren’t mine anymore – secret’s out, y’all. After  a brief stiff-bodied tantrum,  a  tranquilizer shot, a little bit of sit down and several cups of tea later and I realised that all is not lost, there is still time for our beloved TRUANTS readership to get involved before the rest of the world wants a piece of the pie. So with the festive spirit of Yuletide approaching ever nearer, and after much encouragement and lengthy workshops with my therapist, I now feel ready to bestow this gift upon you. A gift you can’t buy in the shops, or online, or from a shady looking fellow loitering by some bins in the car park – this gift is altogether less tangible, but a gift nonetheless. It is, of course, the gift of feeling quietly, deliciously smug and a frisson of pride when an artist, band or track you approved of and supported from the off slides coolly and effortlessly from the shadows of the musical underground into the glittering light of the mainstream.

Therefore I would ask you, dearest reader, to find it in your heart to forgive me and know that this period of covetous quarantine demonstrates just how fervently I believe this band a) is quite brilliant and b) easily has the potential to join the relentlessly bounding trail blazed by Two Door Cinema Club, Fenech Soler and Miami Horror this year.

So after a combination of my own hoarding and a minor wrangling with a friend at a label intent on signing them and thus keen to keep the hype down until the ink was dry, finally the time has come to release these adored captives from my musical dungeon and borderline obsessive, slightly sweaty clutches and allow them to emerge, blinking in the sunlight, for you to devour and worship alongside me.

Touted as the upstart lovechildren of Phoenix & Cut Copy, I first stumbled upon Aussie quartet Strange Talk (Stephen Docker, Gerard Sidhu, Travis Constable and Gillian Gregory) a few months ago on the Australian Triple J Unearthed website, a vibrant hotbed of emerging talent where unsigned bands can have their music rated for a chance to gain radio airplay. The band united in Melbourne in February this year, fresh as a shiny new penny yet with a robust sound that belies their relatively short time together as a four-piece; as demonstrated by these two skillfully crafted examples of infinitely infectious cherry pop, shaken up and fizzed over the indie disco for us to gleefully frolic in.  To keep things balanced and spike the bubbles, also included here is a remix of Naked & Famous ‘Young Blood’, a re-jig drenched in hedonism and produced under the guise of Strange Talk’s remix alias, Thieves of Aon. Early 2011 will see a UK/US tour set for April/May to coincide with the release of their debut EP which I can confirm continues to scream all kinds of ace.

So I hoped you liked your gift. Plenty more where that came from….now, do you want to come with me and have a look in my dungeon? No?

Download : Strange Talk – Climbing Walls (320 kbps)

Stream: [wpaudio url=”http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12066362/2.%20Eskimo%20Boy.mp3″ text=”Strange Talk – Eskimo Boy” dl=”0″] (320 kbps)

Stream: [wpaudio url=”http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4441533/Young%20Blood%20-%20Naked%20And%20Famous%20Thieves%20of%20Aon%20Remix.mp3″ text=”Naked & Famous – ‘Young Blood’ (Thieves of Aon remix)” dl=”0″]