Formed at the end of 2007's summer, i:Candy are a mixture of youth, enthusiasm, killer tunes, young and meaningful lyrics, and that little bit of what they would hate to be called X Factor. Being tied in with the reality world means that they'd be vacuous and short-lived - far from it. They want to entertain, and keep entertaining for years to come - and they want the word "POP" back from Simon Cowell and his cohorts please. It's short for popular, and that's what they want to be - on their own terms! A mixture of POP, punk, indie and, when playing live, Rock it's everything that music should be - fun, thought-provoking, enthusiastic, tuneful. Just listen! Oh, and read this! It was if they wrote it themselves. (They didn't but it's as if!) By Cath Aubergine "i:Candy claim to be "ready to reclaim the word pop back from the reality world that stole it" which - alongside that cheeky-but-quite-clever name - is a pretty good manifesto to start with. They play enthusiastic energetic power-pop that's a bit punky, a bit glam, a bit indie, and with a delightful f**k-off-silly-boys slant courtesy of mouthy singer Ashli. She's like a 21st century alcopopped-up descendant of the likes of Fay Fife from the Rezillos; all pop fun without shop mannequin airbrushing whilst the lads provide a rock-solid backdrop. I'm not sure if my favourite's "Not My Boyfriend" ("...you're just a one-night snog") or the one about boys who really can't dance. The critics might salivate over Girls Aloud in some desperate attempt to show their pop credentials in these "uncool is the new cool" times, but this is the real thing." ManchesterMusic.co.uk That'll do!