Sparkadia - 'Too Much To Do'

Four black-clad Aussies with preppy haircuts and a deft line in wistful FM pop, there’s something very ‘80s about Sparkadia - and it’s not just the fact that current single Too Much To Do lifts the staccato intro from Prefab Sprout’s Cars And Girls, before settling into a choppy, reggae-lite groove that recalls The Police’s Roxanne.

No, it’s more to do with the innocence and guilelessness of frontman Alex Burnett’s lyrics. There’s something very old-school about his simple evocations of love and loss. "Our songs are about heartbreak," explains the 24-year-old, who persuaded his band to relocate from Sydney to London in 2007. "Every time we write something, it sounds like the sun, summer, and nostalgia. We can't help it."

Will Too Much To Do be a hit? Well, it’s been playlisted on Radio 2, which is a good start – although Radio 2’s fondness for 80s-tinged pop-rock perhaps outstrips that of the record-buying public; not long ago they went potty for Rooney’s When Did Your Heart Go Missing , a Club Tropicana-scented single that not even endless plays from Terry Wogan could rescue from a resounding collective “meh”.

Either way, it’ll be followed by a Ben Hillier-produced album, Postcards, on 31 May.

[Myspace].