If you're looking for a holiday destination this Summer the four gents who trade under the name The Laurens are here to warn you away from choosing the Golden Mile in Blackpool, Lancashire.
The eleven original tunes on this album conjure up a bleak coastal setting in what are presented as "bittersweet vignettes of northern life".
The 4-piece deal mainly in expressions of disappointment, blighted expectations and frustrated dreams.
These downbeat sentiments are visually represented on the cover photo of a vacant beach-side bench and described in the title track in which we learn that "the burgers are greyer than the skies".
They tell of relationships that are broken or on the verge of breaking, causing principle songwriter Craig Latham to sing despondently in Northern Town: "I can't see a reason anymore".
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The mindfulness classes of a Strung-Out Girl don't offer much of an escape route and the unrepentant petty thievery of Alias Shoplifter is presented as a better source of entertainment than the amusement arcades.
The silver lining lies in the reggae-tinged, Merseybeat-style arrangements that turn all these gloomy reflections into fairly bright pop songs.
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