LITTLE GREEN CARS - Absolute Zero (Sealed) (CD)

This debut album from Dublin five-piece Little Green Cars, dealing almost exclusively with young love and its discontents, is a study in sincerity. The heartfelt manner with which principal vocalist Stevie Appleby expresses his feelings throughout the album means that by the end, when he sings "If I thought you loved me once/ Then I'd be happy forever", it doesn't sound like romantic hyperbole. The results can be a thrilling immediacy, but Appleby lays it on a bit thick, which is why Faye O'Rourke's powerful, bruised vocals on three songs out of 11 prove a welcome respite.