From the protopunk-tronica of New Jersey’s Last Wars to the alt-summer 60’s of Scotland, we change shapes and change sounds and change continents. Here we are with Main Primate, whose skilfully understated knack for a pop song rivals an almost overblown curiosity.

There’s the matured calm and chill of solo Ray Davies, the jangle of late Teenage Fanclub. Add to this the producer that’s remixed the single, and we can throw in metronomic French indie.

The result is a track that ties sine waves to Britpop, sunshine to feedback, age-nurtured talents to 60’s and 90’s, and kicks of C86 angst bluster. It’s sugary, melancholic, with wisp-like electronics, and guitar lines that throwback to post ‘Parklife’ Blur. And if these references lean on particular decades, there are several good reason why so…

HJM Duggie a.k.a Main Primate was in Rough Trade’s hey-day signing Lowlife. I’m sure one of their albums, and I think it’s ‘Godhead’, is boxed up in my record collection. After this there was Foil, on the much missed Mute Records, who spun shoegaze and Pixies beach blister. The producer, Paul Tipler, who remixed this single, has worked with Idlewild, Elastica, and Stereolab. All these twists and connections explain the not-so-shy nods in a song packed with Easter-egg aurals.

Now let’s head to the album it comes from. In a body of half-subdued, semi-coy tracks that show off a want for adventure, there’s a sweet mix of vital and vulnerable. ‘…For the Lamplighters’ is steeped in a post glow romance that’s a moves between cautious and jerks to the left that spin unexpected progressions. It’s a pleasurable listen, that tugs, tears and twists, and weaves between heartbreak and heady. It’s break from main projects with the freedoms that follow, with a cool crafted cut of nostalgia.