New music Monday: The Venus Stare 'Close To You'

Now that Alphabeat have ditched the uplifting, band-driven pop sound of their first album for something altogether more eighties and altogether more 'Stine' there's a gap in the market (or at the very least, our iPods) for brilliant boy-girl guitar pop about love and sunshine and the like.

And perhaps The Venus Stare will be the ones to slip into the not-quite-cold seat Alphabeat have left. We are judging this on the strength of the single, solitary song we have heard, but as far as single, solitary songs go, 'Close To You' is a bloody brilliant introduction to this new collective.

'Close To You' is full of brilliant harmonies, more hooks than can be healthy and the greatest guitar solo since Daft Punk's 'Digital Love'. It is looking a little bit lonely on The Venus Stare MySpace page right now, but in this world it's quality over quantity and for a new-band demo, this is really quite exceptional.

Click here to listen to 'Close To You' by The Venus Stare.