Mitchell Museum don't really fit among the current Scot-indie wave, apart from the odd synth drone. Their altars are different: the Flaming Lips, Super Furries, Mercury Rev, the more listenable end of Animal Collective, right back to Beach Boys harmonies. They're a psych-pop band in the best meaning of the term, warping pop shapes in odd directions with offbeat rhythms, harmonies that remain tight even when veering across the tune, cryptic lyrics and something that knows how far to take experimentalism while keeping within the melodic boundaries. It's mischievous in its explorations, never overloading the songs but gallantly throwing electronic effects and changes of pace in as and when perhaps necessary while judging when and where to strip back and let things flow naturally. The suspicion is that, after taking this across the stages of the nation for a while and working out what they're musically adept at, the next album might see them establish their own world. For now this is a glorious starter, an enjoyable careering while hardly ever obvious.
Tiger Heartbeat
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