There are bands that seem destined to be described as quirky and The Jumpin' Quails are one of them. The more uncharitable amongst you might well see their album "Bishops in Tea Shops" as somewhat confused in its direction but that near shambolic disregard for conventionality is part of this band's charm.
Where else would you get sixties sensibilities – a more than small debt to Syd Barrett is clearly owed in many of the songs on this album – mixed with a slapdash synth band impersonation and, joyously, a lyrical obliqueness that only the truly exotic and deranged (the Dad Horse Experience would be another example) can manage.
You could easily imagine an Eighties' themed German nightclub erupting to the cheesy yet demented charms of "I Met George Stephenson In My Garden" or a kaftan wearing Austrian grooving wildly to "Goodbye Pussycat" in a public toilet. The standout track, however, is the insistent, even relentless, Kinks on drugs pastiche "Marigot Bay". It's not so much a song as a petrol tanker waiting to run you over.
Once again, European bands show far more sense of adventure than most American or British bands would ever do. "Bishops in Tea Shops" won't be to everybody's taste but I, for one, am impressed that The Jumpin' Quails are not so much retro as revisionist and that they don't take themselves too seriously. When it comes down to it, this is simply a fun album.
Also available on vinyl, by the way.