Interesting. Very interesting. A band with a (supposedly secret) past. A past they don't discuss. Yet they reform and change - perhaps metamorphose - into something that can only be called proper British pop music. You get songs that you can sing. You get a bit of eccentricity. You get imagination. You get intelligence. You've got The Zonules of Zinn.
Reviewing isn't as much fun as you might think. Bands tend to sound the same taking every opportunity to follow the current fashion. Fortunately, if only occasionally, you get a band that sounds like all that is good in pop music. Anthemic songs like "No Control" wash over you like that mythical warm summer rain that refreshes your soul. Even the ghost of Blur get exorcised in "Who Ru Ru" and, in true British pop tradition, the triviality of ordinary people's aspirations gets it in "Tesco Manana". Ray Davies would be proud of them. The conventions of indie rock are adhered to in "She Rules" but you have to admit that this is what indie rock should sound like. There's grace and power on show not just unadventurous posturing. It's the real deal basically and, like all great pop music, it manages to sound familiar without sounding the same. So put your hands together for lead singer Andy McPherson who wrote all the songs. You have learned well, grasshopper!
There are songs in there that will get you straight away and there are songs that you have to come back to a few times. Anyway you look at it, this is an interesting album with lasting value. It entertains and intrigues you and that - ladies and gentlemen - is something of a rarity these days.
Available from their website.