You've got to love a band who christen their drummer 'Reindeer' don't you? It's this spirit of quirky fun and knowing abandon which informs Scottish 4 piece Mitchell Museums effervescent and debut album 'The Peters Port Memorial Service'. From their headquarters above beloved Glasgow venue the Nice N Sleazy the band have constructed a dynamic and chaotic record of lyrically witty indie-pop which takes the best aspects of their obvious American influences (Pavement, Modest Mouse, Flaming Lips etc.) and infuses them with a typical Scottish wit and dynamism.
It's an instrumentally diverse record from the off-set with the distorted accordion and swirling fairground synths of 'We Won 2nd Prize' brimming with kitchen sink drama like a lo-fi Animal Collective. It's an interesting opening move which folds effortlessly into first single 'Warning Bells', an infectious, skewered gem crawling with fractured samples and crackling reverb. Melodically and structurally it's rather unique, like a vintage Radiohead song played by primary school kids and mixed by Kevin Shields. Against all odds it comes across as a pretty immediate and memorable pop song though and much the same can be said for almost everything else here. Take the maddening squall of 'Take The Tongue Out' for example or the epic, wandering maze of 'Copy and Paste' (which is just as confusing as it's title suggests), both might seem on the surface to be impenetrable oddities but pierce through the static and you'll see that the foundations are built on stunningly simple melodies and hooks.
The band are a deceptively tight unit who can shift gears in an instant without breaking a sweat and Front-man Cammy MacFarlane's reedy vocals bring to mind Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donahue only with more presence and attitude (one can't help but think that's the Scottish resolve shining through). They manage to hit just the right balance between endearing amateurism and professionalism, a balance which often eludes all but the greats (Pavement and Radiohead 2 obvious examples) and can be both beautiful and frightening at once (note the wonky Tom Waits on acidisms of 'Novels and Diaries' and the heart breakingly soft-focus 'Cut Lantern') and in an age where most major releases are content to simply make us 'jump up and down a bit' that should surely be rewarded.
Occasionally the lo-fi schtick of the malfunctioning keyboards and reverb cloaked guitars can grate on the ears but more often than not it's simply charming and in all The Peter's Port Memorial Service is a timely reminder of how important truly independent music can be. The aching beauty of the title track sums this fact up perfectly, a 3 minute long instrumental track made up of keyboard loops and effects blended and distorted beyond recognition which fade into a spare, lonely synth melody. This is a song which would never have made it past the gates had Mitchell Museum signed their lives away to a label and it's one of many reasons why I for one hope they remain resolutely independent for the foreseeable future.
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