Young Buffalo - House (2015)

Power pop is an infamously tricky genre to master, and music is littered with bands who were either too slick or too cornball to really conjure up golden harmonies worthy of Weezer, Teenage Fanclub or Cheap Trick. Praise be, then, for Mississippi five-piece Young Buffalo, whose debut album 'House' stands tall next to those forefathers. Genre classifications aside, the supremely infectious 'House' is simply one of the first great albums of 2015 in any field. Inevitably, it takes a lot of effort to sound as effortless as the timeless melodies on My Place and Cliff Diver, the Afrobeat-inflected rallying cry of No Idea or the ambient Old Soul. There's a sense of generosity to Young Buffalo, both as people and in songs as soulful as the escapist Sykia. It's summed up by My Place, the rhythmic centrepiece which helped name the album House. "We recorded the demos at the cabin where Ben and Will live," recalls Jim. "We practice, record and hang out there, and that's an idea that seems to tie the record together."