A Rickenbacker guitar strikes up a mournful chime. A distinctive wail bursts in: "I'd be dead ... but there's nothing worth dying for." This isn't some rediscovered lost Smiths obscurity but a song by a new band called the Isles. Their debut album, Perfumed Lands, sounds like a collection of Smiths demos from 1983. Meanwhile another band, Voxtrot, have a song, The Start of Something, that sounds eerily like an early attempt at This Charming Man.
There's nothing new about bands borrowing from the Smiths - British groups were at it a decade ago. What's different about the latest lot is that they're American. The Isles hail from New York; Voxtrot are from Texas.
The musical appeal of what Isles guitarist Ben Haberland describes as "the Smiths aesthetic: sharp songs which don't insult your intelligence" is obvious to many pop fans. It's less clear why a new generation of Americans are relating to Morrissey's ancient diatribes about "struggle and pain" in "rented rooms in Whalley Range".
"We relate to the Smiths' lyrics because they're about finding out who you are," explains Haberland. But while Morrissey has become a national institution in Britain, the Smiths remain a cult in the US. "It's almost a secret society, being a Smiths fan," says Haberland.
One person with more cause to feel alienated than most is Voxtrot singer Ramesh Srivastava, a Texas-based American-Asian Smiths fan. Srivastava was never concerned by Morrissey's use of the Union Jack and ambiguous songs such as National Front Disco and Bengali in Platforms. "Judging by Morrissey's general ambience and publicly stated opinions, it seems doubtful to me that he is racist," he insists. "I love the Smiths."
Neither of these bands are clones of the Smiths. But the similarities are undeniable. "There's not too much ground left to be broken in rock anymore," say Haberland. "So it's really about great songs and emotion. If that means sounding like the Smiths, I'm happy." A Smiths fan "happy"? Only in America.
· Perfumed Lands is released on August 7 on Melodic; Voxtrot's debut UK single Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives is available on Full Time Hobby
