Chicago has long been known to provide a plethora of punk bands that aren't afraid to infuse their music with massive chunks of melody, and to list them would be pointless as well as take up too much room in this review. Suffice to say, The Fur Coats can be added to any such list with immediate effect as this four-track 7-inch doesn't hang around in nailing its melodic colours to the mast.

The trio consists of Marc Ruvolo (No Empathy / Das Kapital and head honcho of Johanns Face Records), Devon Kay (Devon Kay & The Solutions) and Davey Houle (Das Kapital), and they fill the four songs with a sense of mid-tempo power-pop-punk, each of which features a slightly gritty underbelly that ensures that none of them come across as sickly sweet. Opening track "What The Fuck Do I Do Now?" is a wonderful example of the simplicity of punk rock in that it delivers instantaneous enjoyment from a catchy refrain and some amusing lyrics.

The title track is another one fuelled with melody, and it's impossible not to be drawn into singing along with it–and to be fair it's the right statement for me to be making as I check myself in the mirror during the day!



"Tell Me Something I Don't Know" continues to fly the flag for melodic punk rock, based around a hook that gets stuck in your head and refuses to go away, although to be honest I've given it an invitation to stay as long as it likes as it's my favourite track on the single. This song also brings to the table hints of Naked Raygun, one of the finest purveyors of melodic punk any city, not just Chicago, has produced.

The final track "And U R" has a slightly different feel to it and whilst there is no loss in the catchiness, it just seems to have a tad more balls and bite than the preceding three tracks. This is a good way to come to an end and I must again mention the lyrics as these certainly do help make these songs as good as they are – without that important element, these songs would not have the quality that is evident.

Thank you Chicago. Thank you The Fur Coats. Thank you Dirt Cult.