Album

Album starts with ‘Colour Coded’, a psychedelic tinged song which otherwise sounds like an early Radiohead tune, the understated acoustic guitar mixing well with the harsher sounds. After the first couple of tunes settled me into what I thought would be an album of calm psych, some louder songs showed their face. If I saw this band live I’m sure I’d be most impressed by the drums. The beats on ‘Hope For The Working Classes’ and ‘Chant Like a Loon’ stand out.

While I’m a dedicated fan of anything trippy, much of the trip hop elements on this album only serve to take away from the more interesting tracks. The bloat on ‘The Author’ and ‘Come On Over’ really gets in the way of what I enjoyed about the band.

Most of the album reminded me of other bands and musicians, like the guitar screaming Johnny Marr, and many of the songs have a feel of the softer offerings by the likes of Nirvana and Mind Spiders. That being said, I wouldn’t describe the tracks as copying. Their own sound shines through the clear influences and a reference to Belle and Sebastian certainly keeps me interested. But the album definitely loses its way before the end. The lyrics don’t give you anything to think about if you get bored of the often wandering nature of the instrumentals.