23 is a rush of an album, kaleidoscopic and star-like, spinning from one bright, sparkling point to another. It reminds me a bit of Asobi Seksu's last, Citrus, in its 21st century outer space-y take on dream-pop/shoegaze swirl, but whereas that other tends to crash through in swathes of sound and colour, 23 has more of a downbeat, twilight zone fm radio air and a hint of a prog feel at the edges (somewhat a la Air); it also retains much of the fraught, fragmented elegance of Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons (a while ago, Michelle set me up with a whole stack of the band's back catalogue - all of the albums actually, I think - so they're there for me in due course, too).
I've mentioned the title track before, and listened to it an awful lot since then; the others that I especially like are "Dr Strangeluv" and "Silently".
