I had planned to review June's Join Her Circus album, but on getting the artwork, I noticed that this had been released in September and so it makes more sense to go with the current one. The last time I wrote about Mythical Motors was the album prior to Join Her Circus, A Rare Look Ahead.
You can read that review here. Mythical Motors get compared to Guided By Voices a lot and there are similarities between Robert Pollard and Matt Addison. Both are charmingly lo-fi and you can add similar prolific tendencies.
But Addison treads a different line, using Power Pop as his base, but willing to tread further afield. When he enters Psych Pop, he does it with verve. Take for instance the magnificent Roll The Distant Dice here, a song that would grace any album in that genre.
Violet In The Known World is hippy trippy Orgone Box. But Tuesday With Light is gentle Jangle Pop and the title track is low key West Coast Guitar Pop, all harmony and melody. Arthur The Great is a wonderful closer, sparse, but incredibly effective.
The Power Pop is never far away though, All Long Gone, Lilian Midnight and It Belongs To Us All are splendid examples. Unified Lightning Theory is even in The Who territory. Very Pete Townsend. The whole album is a joy. There are no need for complexities, when you have all this melody at your fingertips.
There is still very much a say what you wanna say and get off feel, but Matt Addison remains one of the great songwriters, probably the best you've never heard of. The talent just oozes out of him and The Sunshine Registry is yet another magnificent addition to his catalogue.
You can listen to and buy the album here and maybe even grab Join Her Circus at the same time.
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