Murky and infectious.
Its not all about high-level production or glossy marketing fads. True, 'A Moment of Clarity' by the Psychotic Reaction will have you fiddling about with the levels of your speaker but you know something, when the song is this poppy and theres so many layers of sounds to unearth by repeated listens then its well worth the job.
The keyboard fills which spice up the background may be pure late 80s, early 90s indie stomp and the style of the vocals may nod a wink to Mark E Smith or Terry Bickers but it all holds together and its as decent a pop track as anything being produced by any of the bigger name indie bands. With a lot of rhyming on the vocals, its extremely easy to get swept up in the track and by the time the bassline leaps up and down in the frenetic ending, its time for a quick breather...before giving the song another whirl.
The B-side is slightly murkier and its instrumental bubbles away, at times hinting that it'll take off but never quite breaking free. It pales into comparison with the lead track but probably isn't a bad wee addition.
The Psychotic Reaction are one of they bands who glorify in the DIY element which is fair enough but if they have a few more tracks like this up their sleeve, they had better be prepared for some hard work ahead.