Glasgow, Scotland, indie rockers. Produced by Dave Fridmann. Although more produced than their earlier stuff, this album is filled with beautiful indie pop songs that often start small and become big ballads. It will certainly receive heavy rotation in my CD player. However, its main weakness is its lack of variation ie they are all monumental pop songs that just keep getting bigger and bigger, formulaic (and thus pop) with melancholic melodies that are very similar to one another. Nevertheless, a great pop album which will be loved by many! Think also of Broadcast, Gentle Waves, Magnetic Fields, Mercury Rev. It’s hard to pick favorites but here goes: 1, 11, 5, 2, 7, 8.

1. great down tempo noisy beat with strings. her sultry voice is like hope sandoval of mazzy star. big gorgeous pop ballad.
2. upbeat. all you need is hate, satire of all you need is love. mostly piano and strings with big anthem chorus. I’m a sucker for fuzz bass.
3. piano with children chorus and minor harmonies. like broadcast.
4. lots of strings. mid tempo big pop song.
5. upbeat acoustic guitar driven. beautiful, sultry voice.
6. down tempo melancholic vibes w/ pizz. strings. turns into big ballad
7. guitar & female vox. stereolab backing vocals. big then bigger.
8. down tempo ballad. very magnetic fields.
9. organ brass guitar and female vox.
10. big pop song. male vox. flavor of flaming lips.
11. sweet rhodes organ. beautiful vox melody, tight beat.
12. keys, samples, and chimes. female vox.