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Consisting of former members of Slowdive and Sarah Records' Eternal, the UK's Monster Movie bring us their second album. I'm not really familiar with Eternal, but I can say that this doesn't sound much like Slowdive--Monster Movie go for a much more varied, pop-based sound, and deliver a chocolate-box of an album filled with excellently tuneful hooks and other kinds of sonic delights. Flavors (the gooey centers) range from borderline-cheesy Euro synth-pop ("Dream About You") to folky acoustic bits ("Colder Days") to a distinctly Swirlies-esque sound ("Memento") to wistful indiepop ("Nobody Sees") to early-Stereolab style organ-driven space-pop (album closer "1950da", possibly a top-10 track of the year). Textures and embellishments (the nuts and toffee and other crunchy/chewy bits) include handclaps and glockenspiel and buzzy guitars and crazy bouncy noisy bits and keyboards aplenty. The bounty of ingredients delights rather than distracts, and the excellent songwriting and boyish vocals are the chocolate foundation of this (belabored) metaphor. The album has a bit of a home-recorded feel, which I have nothing against, but I do feel that some of the songs might be even more impressive with the benefit of a bit more polish. That's a minor quibble though and doesn't lower my esteem for the album. A couple of the mopeyer songs are just average, but overall the album's a peach and leaves me wanting more from them. (mike.12.04)
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