Amateur Ornithologist - Hide

Seasoned watchers / listeners know the way to my musical heart. Great Psych Pop is one way and there will be some of that later, but even more so Quirky Intelligent Inventive Indie and this more than falls into the latter category. Wonderfully so and it is from the UK which is an even bigger bonus.

It can get so frustrating over here. The music scene has got so regional. It is tumbleweed at times and when it does liven up, it is usually something ordinary that gets copied for the next 18 months. So how refreshing to hear an album as special and splendid it is as this. 

The six piece collaborate on the arrangements and they are the real strength here. a little left field adopting Indie, Rock, Prog, Folk and even a little Jazz. At times, the album sounds like Field Music backed by a top notch band. It is also held together by the strength of Daniel Clifford's vocal which gently leads everything.

They can do straight ahead and also complicated from the beautifully performed Indie Pop of the title track to the epic 5 minutes plus of When They Fall which is almost anthem and more than a little like a bigger arranged Orgone Box affair. Incredible harmonies enhance that song even further.

Those harmonies also adorn The Word Is Love, a song built around a Talking Heads like Bassline and a vocal that strangely nears Boy Band Pop. Venetian Blinds is splendidly melancholic led by Sax, yet It Looks Like Magic bursts out the blocks, picking up the pace and even finding time for a Beach Boys like interlude.

I like it best when it goes right to the edge. The opener, A Hidden Path is awesome built on a Baroque Pop arrangement that is almost classical. Then there is the absolute delight that is Time To Talk that encompasses everything that the band does.

At times you think it is The Lilac Time or a Colin Moulding XTC song, but it also contains a Robert Tripp like Guitar line and enters Prog with its killer bassline and Sax. The beauty of the album is that it makes the complex sound so simple. The Anatomy Lesson, for instance, comes across as pure 80s Pop then you realise how much is actually in the song. 

The Sax here is tastefully added, benefitting the song. I have to admit that I have never been that keen on the instrument as it can dominate everything. but here it seems so at home. The last time that I thought that was on the Bandicoot album and that was an Album Of The Year for us and who is to say that this won't be the same? An Essential album to listen to whole and in one word, Magnificent.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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