Album: Larsen B, Musketeer (Old Radio Tunes)

Larsen B are a trio from the Hertfordshire town of Wheathampstead, which they choose to refer to by its Domesday name of Watamestede, signal whimsy.

With sleek high-register vocal harmonies delivering opaque imagery ("Our hearts met in Atlantis/I'll burn you in a furnace"?) over prog-pop settings which prize cleverness over melodic instincts, songs such as "Atlantis" and "Codeine" recall Supertramp, or The Beach Boys struggling to make sense of Van Dyke Parks' lyrics, and failing. Pitting organ against ukelele or banjo, "Robots Learn To Love" is quaint enough, and "Red Indians And Witches" has a certain folksy charm, which they can't resist over-egging; as with "Down By The Sea", the melody soon wanders off up a blind alley. File close to Field Music and British Sea Power.

DOWNLOAD THIS Robots Learn To Love; Red Indians And Witches