Mushroom Music Publishing

There are some facts you probably already know about north London quintet Cajun Dance Party. Primarily, you probably know that they're only just tipping into their late teens - although it's worth remembering what lead singer and lyricist Daniel Blumburg said to one age-enquiring interviewer: 'music's for the ears, not for feeling our young flesh.'

You may have heard on the hype grapevine - and back when they first appeared in late 2005 the hype grapevine was a vociferous, over-excited beast when it came to the charms of Cajun - that the five multi-instrumentalist members joined forces for a school Battle Of The Bands and wrote their debut single, the soaring, crashing 'The Next Untouchable' in their first rehearsal, attracting an archetypical A&R scramble within weeks. All of which was assisted by the release of said song - a limited, sold out debut 7' on WayOutWest - before the band made a significant commitment to new home XL.

You might also be aware that they have a raft of musical cheerleaders including Bernard Butler, who was so taken with their infectious, musically-rich pop universe that he immediately offered to produce second single 'Amylase' and subsequently, their debut album The Colourful Life.

What really matters though, is that the nine tracks and 39 minutes of The Colourful Life elevates the five-piece out of the exciting but limiting confines of the new band explosion and into the stratosphere. The songs - guitarist Robbie Stern's music and arrangements propelling vocalist Daniel Blumburg's feel-like-fire lyrics and melodies - sound like the latest addition to a rich musical lineage that stretches back through Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Portishead and The Smiths - all with an added hyperkinetic blast. Cajun are as fresh as the buttercups on the loping, sunshine-dissolved song of the same title. In fact, they're fresher.

Daniel: 'We looked at the album and realised that for us, it was perfect. It just works. All my favourite albums are short - Television's Marquee Moon, Highway 61 Revisited...'

But who exactly are Cajun Dance Party? Well, there's bassist Max Bloom, a multi-instrumentalist who taught himself to play bass guitar and also adds trumpet and banjo into the Cajun mix. Keyboardist Vicky Freund rebelled against her classical training by falling for Miles Davis and Aretha. 'I got really into jazz and blues,' she says. 'The band has introduced me to other stuff.' And there's classical violinist, Robbie Stern, 17, who fell in love with pop music after going to see the Buddy Holly musical at the tender age of seven - and is the man responsible for the whole thing: it was Stern who introduced schoolmate and drummer Will Vignoles (whose dad is classical accompanist Roger Vignoles) to singer Daniel Blumberg, now 18, who pre-Cajun Dance Party was listening mainly to '(What's The Story) Morning Glory' and had never written a note of music in his life. However, the combination of Blumberg's musical naivety with Stern's intense classical training would become the catalyst for the pairs' exhilarating songwriting partnership, during a period that also saw the lead singer's fledgling musical knowledge rapidly expanding via a crash-course of recommendations from band-members and new musical friends including Bernard Butler, who simply handed Blumburg his iTunes.

The five have been busy since signing to XL last year. As well as glorious, hyperactive gigs with the likes of Kings Of Leon, and a nationwide headline tour, there were show stealing-slots at last summer's Glastonbury, Reading and Underage Festivals. There was also the gutted-if-you-missed-it acoustic with string section gigs at Chiswick's George VI and Islington's Union Chapel, scored by Robbie and featuring a cellist, three violinists, a double bassist, two trumpets, two guitars and keyboards. On top of all that, the band have been juggling the twin demands of A-Levels and music, heading to the studio after school, on weekends and block-booking school holidays so they could get all these life-affirming, heart-busting songs just right. 'We weren't all together in a house in Shropshire for a week,' says Robbie. 'We were walking to the studio every week for six months. There was a lot of perfectionism but I'd hate to think of the result as polished. It sounds as live as possible.'

The Colourful Life was recorded at West Heath studio where they ditched the computers and recorded the whole album onto tape. 'It's Edwyn Collin's studio and he built it himself,' says Max. 'The equipment is really old, piles of Moogs and stuffed dead cats everywhere. You can hear the West Heath sound in the acoustics. It's a really special place.'

It's a really special album. Just take the spellbinding title track 'Colourful Life', which opens the album in glorious style. Next single 'The Race' is joyously crafted; a trajectory of heart-stopping strings earthed by super-tight bass and drums, whilst previous limited releases 'Amylase' and 'The Next Untouchable' both benefit from next-level attention whilst the panoramic 'Time Falls', semi-acoustic love song 'No Joanna' and the final, Screamadelica-gorgeous track 'The Hill, The View & The Lights' provide vantage points from which to see how far this band could go.

Cajun have found their own unique way to turn their lives into songs you'll love forever. As with the music, so with the practicalities - there's no standard release album, tour album, take a break, do-it-all-again grind here: The Colourful Life comes out in April and will just exist, sit there in the musical firmament without the distractions of touring or days filled back-to-back with promo. Instead, they'll finish their A-Levels, keep rehearsing and head straight for the studio once school's out for good to record the second album, out in October, which already promises mind-boggling musical joy. 'We've already got a bluesy one we're really happy with,' says Robbie, 'plus a track that's even more acoustic than 'No Joanna', a dancey record with cowbells, and one with a big riff. You'll know it when you hear it.'

And until then, here's the most fully-realised debut in years.

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