If at a Straw gig you hear a strange rattling sound, it's probably not a new sample. Since being dropped, they've abandoned the little bobbies of weirdness that used to crackle through their cheekily poised Britpop. Now they're relying on the strength of their songs alone and that sound is probably just fours pairs of teeth, chattering with fear. They know that even at the very best of times the rat-race of classic guitar pop is stuffed with also-rans.
That's not to say Straw can't write cracking songs when they want to. Their one real hit, "The Aeroplane Song" ("Lufthansa - go where you wanna go") still thuds into the pop bull's-eye with a reassuring, early-Blur thwack. It's just that Straw have the demeanour of chancers who know that it's a jungle out there and they're the cute, furry rodents marked "meal" for the bigger beasts. Most furry rodents, though, don't get spat out and then immediately stick their head in another lion's mouth, as Straw have done by signing to a major label. You could call it ambition, but where their debut album, "Shoplifting", was shot through with self-deprecating humour, it also had a certain confidence. Now the nerves suggested by their unusually diffident stage presence seem to be real.
Can they really think that either the stomping Ian Dury-isms of "I'm Desperate" or the new Verve-style single "Watching You Sleep" will propel them towards the big time? Well, maybe they can. There's more heart here than they had before. They're not necessarily any better that they were two years ago, but they are more in tune with the times - just going for honest, earthy emotion and nice tunes. If the Britpop party does kick off again, then maybe this time Straw will be ready to join in.

Trevor Baker
Taken from the Sept 20th - Sept 26th issue of Melody Maker

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