So I've been waiting for this fey little record to really charm me over the last few weeks, but it doesn't seem as if it's going to happen in any major way, at least not any time soon. You can get a pretty good idea of the band's 'thing' by the album cover - cute, whimsical songs which are sung in a childish kinda voice (figuratively speaking, though the (male) singer does get a bit of falsetto happening), dealing with monsters, spiders, warm panda cola, and also - and I'm not kidding - the unbearable lightness of being (though not in quite those words).
There's lots of bounce and sunniness, but also plenty of quiet sadness; some of the lyrics are pretty barbed in that confused and bewildered sort of way ("Monsters" deserves especial mention in that respect)...all with a palette of banjo, glockenspiel, synth squiqqles, recorder, etc. It's kinda like early Belle & Sebastian crossed with Architecture In Helsinki, maybe with a bit of Apples In Stereo and perhaps a touch of Bis thrown into the mix; somehow the whole confection doesn't melt my heart, but it's still quite good if you're into this sort of thing. Best songs: "Be Gentle With Me", "Paper Cuts", "The Battle Of The Boy Least Likely To" (and, if you can bear the disgusting cheeriness of it all, "I'm Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star").
