Eel Pie Island eccentrics Mystery Jets vowed to focus on the songs rather than the sonics on their second outing, and it seems they’ve made good on their word. Out go the ramshackle Floyd worship and the faint whiff of crusty Levellers cheese, to be replaced with smart, streamlined new wave pop akin to Hot Hot Heat circa ‘Elevator’. The resulting album is very likeable, if not always perfect. Producer Erol Alkan (yes, that one, but don’t hold it against them) has done a sterling job focussing the band’s sound into tight, funky grooves on the likes of ‘Hideaway’ and ‘Hand Me Down’, while ‘Flakes’ sways hypnotically and ‘Umbrellahead’ sees the band channelling their more idiosyncratic urges into fertile Clap Your Hands territory. Quite what their existing fanbase will make of this artistic volte-face remains to be seen, but for those who dismissed them first time around, a reassessment of Mystery Jets is on the cards. Lee Gorman
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DOWNLOAD: ‘Hideaway’, ‘Half In Love With Elizabeth’
FOR FANS OF: Hot Hot Heat, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Rapture
Posted on: 27th January 2010
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