Do not be alarmed – you have not Doctor Who’d back in time. It is indeed 2014 and Ireland’s denim-clad divas are actually BACKBACKBACK. The girl’s new EP, Champagne or Guinness is Keavy, Edele, Sinead and Lindsay’s first new music in fourteen years. B*Witched’s star burned absurdly brightly in the technicolor post-Spice pop explosion of the late 90s. Nowadays they’re probably remembered almost exclusively for their gleeful debut ‘C’est La Vie’, but they notched up another three self-penned consecutive number one singles after that St. Paddy’s day anthem and scored two platinum albums, racking up hits on both sides of the Atlantic. And then, just like that, it was over. In 2000, ‘Jump Down’ the third single from their second album Awake & Breathe missed the top ten and that was – seemingly – the end of it. Fast forward a decade or so and the girls were thrown a lifeline in the form of the Andi Peters helmed snark-a-thon The Big Reunion. Two sold out arena tours followed the warts and all re-telling of life inside the pop whirlwind and a newly energised B*Witched capitalised on their heightened profile, enlisting their re-galvanised fanbase to crowdfund brand new music. Champagne or Guinness kicks off with ‘Love & Money’, a track B*Witched premiered over a year ago via a video of a profile of the group being constructed by artist Nathan Wyburn rendered entirely in DENIM. Amazing. The track itself is a rollicking Kelly Clarkson ‘Since U Been Gone’-eque stomper, lambasting money grabbing gold diggers: “But what’s a girl to do? Just start to calculate the wealth of your estate”. This is no-nonsense power pop. ‘Fighting For The Drop’ is more familiar B*Witched territory. Fans of their 1999 single ‘Jesse Hold On’ will be delighted to know that the group have dusted down that track’s twinkly banjo and deploy it here with unashamed gusto, melding punchy turn of the century pop beats with the worlds best hoedown. If the title ‘Champagne or Guinness’, didn’t give it away, the frenetic fiddle on the EP’s title track remind you that B*Witched are actually very Irish indeed. Awash with distorted ‘HEY’s, hand-claps aplenty and that half-electronic fiddle action, ‘Champagne or Guinness’ is designed specifically to soundtrack the world’s best St Patrick’s Day party. B*Witched are remembered by most for their technicolour approach to pop, which is a shame because sparkly Celtic Christmas ballad ‘To You I Belong’ and the epic ‘Blame it on the Weatherman’ stand up as some of their best recordings from the band to date. ‘We’ve Forgotten How’ is their token foray into the world of the downtempo on this release and finds the girls and their most plaintive. It’s a folksy and heartfelt acoustic number which yet again proves that B*witched can do down tempo just as well as they can get the floor jumping! The tempo is whacked back up on ‘Waiting All This Time’. More fiddles, more handclaps, a do-si-do and the biggest earworm on the record. Layered harmonies, hooks and strings make the track addictive listening. The same fiddle returns on ‘The Stars Are Ours’ for more swirling Celtic pop and it seems like business as usual until the one minute mark where Euro synths explode into an Avicii-aping EDM/pop hybrid. ‘Stars are Ours’ clearly takes its cues from his monster hit ‘Wake Me Up!’ but thanks to the group’s history in experimenting with instruments that you wouldn’t normally find in contemporary pop, it works. And it’s obscenely fun. ‘Champagne or Guinness’ is a remarkably strong outing from the reunited multi million selling girl band who have managed to reinvent. It’s unashamedly a B*Witched release, helmed by four women who have matured but absolutely not lost their sense of fun. After 14 years away from the spotlight, The group have produced the record they were aiming for with their 1999 release Awake and Breathe – equal parts frenetic joy and an eclectic mixture of disparate styles. Fan-funded and entirely realised by Keavy, Edele, Sinead and Lindsay themselves. This is precisely what you want from a B*Witched release in 2014. Crack out your drink of choice and join the party. Www.facebook.com/bwitchedreunion ‘Love & Money’ video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftqe6hGXcwA