having only heard the bands early ep4 release of mercury rev styled epic pastoral guitar harmony rich pop, this album came as quite a shock. no the band haven’t rediscovered their love for rob zombie or anything like that, it’s just that the album is one wild, but very welcome, trip of genre mutation that i never expected.
opening with a old school electro synth loop backed by a string section things start off as they mean to continue.
in other words, until you have heard this album a few times, you have no idea what’s about to come around the corner. one minutes it’s a headfuck krautrock riff, opener no love in your heart, and next we’re heading into a david axelrod styled funked up horns-n-strings section (see mid-piece gone for the most part, and album closer breaking point for more of that particular mad groove). the overall feeling is that the band have decided to throw out the so-called rule book for easy listening psychedlic pop music, and instead throw everything to hand on their budget, into the melting pot.
admitedly, this makes for a hopscotch album that sometimes makes your head spin in wonder, other times you begin to think the production excess is a little too, well, excessive.
thankfully, the good outweighs the bad, and as the band drop in the odd normal tune here and there across the 50 minutes, burn the liars, foundation and earth and the beatles-esque piano lead when the wind blows being obvious choices for possible radio play, then the listeners patience is richly rewarded.
more detail : here
online radio broadcast by the earlies : here