The Essex Green

A brief perusal of the Essex Green's photo on the Merge Website reveals the band has no business writing a should-be pop hit as 1985-centered as this one — no Vidal Sassoon damage, no heavy makeup masks, no keytars anywhere. Nonetheless out come the choppy skinny-tie guitars, entry-level synth figures, outsider-looking-in thematic tropes, and bittersweet, upper-register-sung choruses — happy tunage holed up with sad sentiments.