Britain’s best new guitar band appeal to pop fans who want shiny, happy music — but they haven’t always been that chirpy

One listen to the Magic Gang’s debut album is enough to make you feel that all is right with the world. Rarely since the age of the Beatles and the Beach Boys have songs been this sunny and harmonious; rarely since the Nineties heyday of Weezer has punky guitar pop been so invigorating. So it comes as a surprise to discover, as the singer and guitarist Jack Kaye and the bassist Gus Taylor demolish plates of tortellini in an Italian restaurant in southwest London, that all four members of Britain’s best new guitar band are in fact completely miserable.