The Scottish 5 piece return (at last) with the second album. A slightly more diverse offering than 1997's debut FURTHER, the fine production (Howie B) and full on orchestration is still apparent and very welcome, but the music has a more diverse feel, especially the openly dark instrumental "Morricone" a brave selection of track for the album. The album is dominated by the vocals of Montogmery (Jeff Buckleyesque), his voice sounds so fragile at times you think it is about to snap. The first four tracks give the album a fantastic opening and will give the new listener a very good idea of their sound, "If You Have To Go" in particular is a piece of beauty that many more established groups (Travis/Radiohead) would love to have in their songbook and it would stand out there too. There are many highlights here, each song seems to have something special about it, the backing vox on "Rockets Over California", the guitars of "Museum Mile" I could go on, but I feel you should discover these little gems yourself. The album has been a long time in coming, but as you listen you feel the wait worthwhile. There is no unecessary noise, everything seems to be tidy and in its place. The album won't have the instant poppy catchy appeal of FURTHER, but I think it could grow to be a much better friend.
GARETH GETVOLDSEN (7)
 
 

[Fresh Ears ]
Naming this album after the most violently radical 60'a "countercultural" movement/criminal organization seems something of a stretch for this Scottish band's second release.  It falls firmly within the well-defined contours of Suede/Smiths/Radiohead Britpop.  In other words, more conservative than radical. Like the material on Radiohead's OK COMPUTER, nearly all of the songs here hew to a maddeningly mid-tempo rut, usually starting out quiet, then building to a loud, guitar-drenched middle or end. Furthermore, enjoyment will depend heavily on your taste for lead singer Andrew Montgomery's frequent falsetto vocals.  Again, shades of Thom Yorke and Radiohead.  On the plus side, Stephen Dora's guitar work often builds to a mighty reverbed squall, recalling Smiths-era Johnny Marr or, at times, U-2's the Edge.  There's one great cut here: "Cassie", which throbs like vintage T-Rex via Ziggy Stardust.  A few more of these, and we'd have an interesting album.
BRIAN O'CONNOR (3)
 

Geneva's website : www.geneva-music.com
 
 

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