(Nettwerk Records)
This column must still be on Nettwerk’s probation list, being that the love it gets from the corridors of PR is currently limited to quirky guess-my-classification tests released the previous month or week, not that they should stop in case anyone’s looking. A couple of months ago we went over Anathallo, whose weirdness was Sufjan Stevens-level, and the oom-pah-pah waltzing that kicks off boot-up track “Matches” was met with similar excited squeals from our Altie Whacko Desk, but that was just a drill; the evocation here is Belle and Sebastian getting a royal beating from the Shins while ELO sneaks a few robot-glissando aaahhhahhs into the vocal tracks. It’s at once keep-on-truckin 70s and break-out-the-thesaurus inspiration for Pitchforkians, the hi-hat sizzling in 16th-notes while twee vocal lines implicitly urge the rich kids to make daddy’s 57 T-bird disappear to someplace grassy where it’s safe to make out and do wildly outrageous things like stick flowers in your hair. Title track is a synthesis of “Killer Queen” and the most recent opera-couplet-a-thon from the now-demented Sparks, setting the table for an experience that will have Belle fans who’d like to see their heroes get slightly edgy believing in Santa Claus.
