Sydney indie folk act Dead Letter Chorus – not to be confused with prog rock band Dead Letter Circus, from Brisbane (even Chorus’s Myspace calls them Circus at one point) – have captured a unique, upbeat, African-influenced style of folk that’s becoming quite popular at the moment (see bands like Jinja Safari). Their latest single, "Run, Wild" is a perfect example of this. It’s an infectious, chanting and tambourine filled piece with a relatively simple melody.

I love what they’re doing with the style, but when you strip it down, "Run, Wild" is really nothing special musically. It’s a pop song at heart, which is fine, but there are only so many times you can take the same chanting, strip the backing away from it, and slowly bring it back in. But despite how flat the song seems musically, it doesn’t seem to matter. Dead Letter Chorus have captured a mood – take a look at the video clip and you’ll see what I mean. "Run, Wild" speaks for itself – it’s all about freedom, and exploration. Here’s hoping there’ll be a little more musical exploration on the rest of this album.

6/10

Second take by Liz Elleson:

The Dead Letter Chorus has managed to create a potential 'summer anthem' with their new single 'Run, Wild'. Whilst remaining true to the musically immature concepts of popular radio content, the single is still quite catchy, cute and lots of fun! It has a resonating innocence about it that could possibly see it implanting itself as the theme song for Play School... I would definitely advise against putting this single on 'repeat' as it is incredibly catchy. Even now, after having tried to cure myself of its insanely annoying disease with Blind Melon, I still find myself tapping my foot to its steady beat... Yes friends, please be careful - this single is hazardous material and should be enjoyed in small doses only.

If you're into Johnny Cash style guitar, then definitely hear this single out. It incorporates a 'western' style of guitar picking, a steady floor-tom beat, and clapping (NOTE: Johnny Cash is still way out of the Dead Letter Chorus's league). Despite the female vocalist's Lisa Mitchell sounding voice and the indescribably repetitive beat, I would still give this single a 6/10 - it's worth its salt, and is still very good music.

6/10