This, on the surface at least, is an unassuming EP. Packaged, as it is, with little in the way of obvious fanfare and nothing so mundane as a track listing on its sleeve, "Muted Response" by Glasgow duo How Garbo Died nonetheless sticks in your mind.
I don't mean that it is chock full of pop classics but more that the music contained therein possesses a disturbing quality much like Aidan Moffat did before he fell into the pit of self loathing. In truth, How Garbo Died also dither on the edge of the same precipice but their stripped out basement electronica saves the day with Robb Pickerton's guitar doing the musical equivalent of a street brawl started by a distinctly relentless drum machine. There is yet more to impress like the crumbling magnificence of the lyrics to the nihilistic "My Life in Statistics", for example, and Kevin Gilday's star shines brightest when he takes a strongly theatrical approach to his vocal performance with the best being found in "Aluminium Army".
However, in the end it is what this band's music leaves in its wake that marks them out as different. There are plenty of bands that do the gadgetry and guitar thing even in Glasgow but How Garbo Died manage – no doubt by some dark art – to lift themselves out of the ordinary whilst still staying in the shadows. Perhaps they will languish in obscurity or perhaps they will become serial killers but one thing is for certain – How Garbo Died will always be a square peg trying to fit in a round hole.