Mona

Devotion. Faith. Abandonment. The ecstasy of salvation, the salvation of ecstasy… There's a thin line between rock'n'roll and religion, and nowhere thinner than in the intense, sharp, sweat-drenched, duelling-guitar euphoria of Mona. The four-piece Nashville-based band - or family, or gang, or band of brothers - are young, charismatic punk preachers. They'll testify to the thrill they get from hunkering down in a Nashville, Tennessee basement, writing and recording the best debut album of 2011. They'll hymn the praises of visceral rock with heavenly fireworks in its soul. They want to convert everyone they come across.

Mona are Sun Studio's Million Dollar Quartet (Presley, Perkins, Lewis, Cash) rebooted 54 years on. They're rock revivalists, in the sense that they like, as Nick puts it, "the golden age of the United States - the James Dean, Marilyn Monroe type stuff." This iconography and idealism, he says, informed the writing of "Listen to Your Love" - and the reasons why it became their first single.

In 2011, Mona won't be hard to find. They've already caused a rumpus in the UK this autumn, with the release of "Listen to Your Love" and two crushing-room-only London shows at Rough Trade East in Brick Lane and at The Flowerpot in Kentish Town. This was followed by the second more melodic single "Trouble On The Way". Their latest track "Teenager" is their first fully commercially-available single. Nick: "It's the song that sums up being a chump, dealing with love and hate and very basic human emotions."

The only thing slick about Mona is their hair. The rest is arm-pumping, vein-throbbing, knee-jittering, raw-throated, singalong rock'n'roll.