British pop band Semion has released a very strong debut EP a few years back, Get A Grip unleash their stronger full length, Help Me I Work In An Office. "Semion comes from the same power pop lineage as such West Coast
affected Brits like Teenage Fanclub, Cosmic Rough Riders & BMX Bandits which roughly translated means Beatlesque melodies, jangly guitars and an irresistible beat."-The Power Of Pop. The following is a great, wonderful review of the album that really pulls it all together! "This is the bit in the essay where really lazy people would start with a definition of the term `Power Pop`. Why break the habit of a lifetime? Wikipedia tells me that power pop is:-
"A long-standing musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960`s British and American pop music. Musically the style is characterized by strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements and prominent guitar riffs, with instrumental solos kept to a minimum, and blues elements largely downplayed"
What`s all this got to do with Semion, the London-based power pop (there`s that word again, I get ?1 for every mention) quartet fronted by Gary Ford, a journeyman songwriter who refuses to believe that there isn`t more to life than row-upon-row of desks in an open plan office, hence the title of the band`s debut album, Help Me I Work In An Office.
Sonically, the album hums with all the energy of a thousand Elvis Costellos, pumped full of sherbert and happy drugs. Semion have nice hair, though. Setting out their stall in style with the Buzzcocks-esque album opener `Rum Runner`, with Ford`s lament at the walls `closing in` backed by some of the perkiest punk pop this side of Fountains Of Teenage Weezer Club, ditto for th efrankly stunning slice of fried gold that is `Year Of The Monkee`. There is a rich vein of musicianship running through this album, and by that I don`t mean that the band all have pony tails and Joe Satriani t-shirts; it`s just refreshing to hear a band that don`t care about wearing the right trousers and sounding like The Clash tribute band they saw down the Metro Club last week. But why am I explaining myself to you? Good songwriting is a quality that needs no justification, and Semion, quite simply, write great songs.
A clarion call to all the sad and disenfranchised, tired of this workaday world, in a sane world, Semion shouldn`t exist. But this world is far from sane, and that`s why we need bands like them more than ever. Do the right
thing."- Culture Deluxe. " This is one of the purest, most scintillating power pop platters to grace our mailbox in a long time."-POpCulturePress. " The Semion album leaves the traps at breakneck-speed and it`s at least three tunes in before it even thinks of taking a breath. Here there be power pop melodies and twin-guitar breaks aplenty, harmonies and harpsichords, nods to Scottish jangle-pop, and name-checks for Paul Westerberg and Big Star (the latter in two consecutive songs). Over 14 songs that never dream of outstaying their welcome they demonstrate an easy mastery of the art of the three-minute pop song.
They`re often knowing and allusive but seldom blatantly so.. Obvious suspects like Costello and Pete Shelley are rounded up when influences get listed but what`s more interesting is the subtleties and variations.
There`s a chamber-flecked drift into Eric Matthews territority on `Liverpool Sunset`, `Jangle#1` strongly echoes Camelot in Smithereens-era Peter Bruntnell, and `Year Of The Monkee`, thematically out of the same box as `So You Want To Be (A Rock`n`Roll Star)`, pushes a lot of buttons with its `talent show`, `Westerberg pose` references."-Bucketfull Of Brains.
Extremely Highly Recommended!
 Liverpool Sunset - mp3
Rum Runner - mp3
Good Times - mp3
Never Changes - mp3
Year Of The Monkee - mp3
Transmission - mp3 | 
