Use Your Time Wisely is the debut album from Minnesota-born, New York based, Strange Names.

For those of us that lived through the '80s there's a lot to love about this album, which harks back to a time when the Brits dominated the pop charts. There's a ring of familiarity about the tracks that on subsequent listens you'll swear you remember them from your childhood (assuming you were a child of the '80s). So it's even more bizarre to learn that the band are American in origin.

Whether by design, or accidentally, Strange Names has managed to capture the magic of '80s Brit pop and repackage it for a new generation - stripping out all the naff and injecting a more contemporary feel.

The album contains 11 tracks (44 min, 11 sec) of upbeat, summer music - I even caught a hint of Paul Young and Nik Kershaw in 'Brick City'.

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Nick Smithson