When You Wish Upon A Star…

White Horses And Shooting Stars Pullover Fierce Panda Released: May 1995 Highest UK Chart Position: Did Not Chart Available on: Nings And Roundabouts!

One of Britpop's major sins was what it did to the indie community. Suddenly, to get anywhere, you had to conform to the aesthetic: melodic 60s-referencing guitar pop, Attempts to do something different were looked on with some suspicion, and bands who weren't already established and didn't fit in had a tendency to disappear quickly. Pullover were one of these bands, managing to get signed to Starfish/Big Star and recording an entire album, only to have it junked before it was released. The band recorded another single and then decided to split. All that remains of Pullover are the singles that they released through the indie label Fierce Panda. White Horses And Shooting Stars was the second of these 7" singles, and can be found in CD form on the compilation Nings And Roundabouts.

It's great, whilst at the same time being almost completely out of place with all the groups surrounding them; strings and guitars mesh along with the sweet lyrics adding up to create something very twee indeed. If you managed to cut this record, it would bleed hair-grips and rainbow gel. You can imagine it being set upon by the other records in the shop; Oasis and Blur holding it down while Supergrass give it a wedgie, then throwing it off the counter and into the depths of the 50p discount box. Listening to them sing "Follow your dreams when you're awake / you can be the icing on the cake", you want to give them a big hug and protect them from the ravages of the world. It's a bit late now, though.

In retrospect, Pullover’s mistakes were to form a year early, and a lack of Scottishness. In 1996, Belle & Sebastian carved out a successful position as the kings of all things twee, discovering an audience that supported (and still does) many bands of a similar style. A rescue mission to the discount bin have been mounted, but by that time, Pullover had taken their toys and gone back inside, hiding from the bullies that gave them such a hard time. As if to underline this, the last thing they recorded was a cover of Wham!’s Last Christmas. They gave their hearts, and we threw them away.