Chances are you have something in common with the off and on couple behind The Echo Friendly... the heartsick band takes an unusually honest approach to the trials and tribulations of breaking up...

The Echo Friendly are Jake Rabinbach (guitar, vocals) and Shannon Esper (vocals). Their debut album chronicles an often ambiguous friendship fraught with tension and second-guessing over the difficulty of staying close to someone with whom you used to be closer. And yet at its root is a bond forged over a love of music: for the ‘90s indie rock through which they found common ground; for Memphis, the home of rock-and-roll where they kindled their relationship and eventually recorded their album.

Love Panic is a well polished, bitter sweet album which contains 10 tracks (34 min, 52 sec). Indie rock doesn't get much better than this. The couple's sense of humour comes through in 'Apartment' which sees Rabinbach detailing what is wrong with the way Esper lives; Esper equally replies with the issues she has with the way Rabinbach expects to be treated like his mother treated him. It's tongue in cheek and represents a look at how we become comfortable with other people's messed up way of living.

'Same Mistakes' appeared on the first season of HBO’s Girls, has Rabinbach and Esper trading vocals as they chide themselves for reverting to old habits.

'Panic' is probably the most instantly recognisable '90s indie rock track, with a whiff of The Pixies and Chrissie Hynde.

This is a well structured and beautifully produced album, and certainly one worth picking up.

8

Nick Smithson