I normally have to listen to CDs a few times before forming a fair opinion, but by track 4 of Coalhouse's 'The Trauma of Natural Selection', I had come to the decision that yes, I quite liked it. Perhaps it's the 90s flavour I find appealing. Perhaps the vocals remind me a touch of my favourite early nineties singers. I think that mostly, it's because this record demonstrates good, honest, quality songwriting- something that seems to have been replaced by an 'indie-by-numbers' approach in the cases of many modern bands. It's refreshing, unpretentious, and unafraid to draw on diverse influences; I can hear blues, britpop, old school indie, even grunge...hell, sometimes I can hear Greg Dulli, which can only be a positive thing. No doubt, you'll hear other things- but despite all these 'similarities', Coalhouse still manage to sound like themselves. One listen down, and I've gone from intrigued to impressed.