There are times when you feel that you have actually reached the intellectual nirvana that will allow you to understand what smoke on the water actually means and, at that time, you may well find yourself in need of something in the acid-folk style like “Bombs Away” from Impossible Mule to do the soundtrack to your life thing.
“Bombs Away” certainly isn’t any sort of corporate effort and Girls Aloud fans – may they and their lip gloss be blessed with many comeback tours – will likely be forced to buy themselves some nice new shoes as consequence of any exposure to this album yet, for all the no doubt deliberate untidiness and plentiful rough edges, these eight songs do actually manage to roll down the same highway. Truth be told, it is a highway with few diversions and many roundabouts with the same exits yet these eight songs do grow on you as if their reverb infused presentation and often bleak lyrics are all part of a cunning strategy to deploy some sort of spiritual message.
“Bombs Away” does not seem much like an album of today and that is perhaps a good thing. Variety is, after all, the spice of life and you only get one of those.