Welcome - Sirs

Man, this is one of those albums, that hits you from all sorts of familiar angles in totally different ways than you've been hit before!! In the not quite 30 minutes it took to listen to this record, I was reminded of Olivia Tremor Control, the Aislers Set, Ganger, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Guided by Voices, the Monkees and the Beatles. 60's psych pop seems to be the foundation for most of the songs, but the foundation is all cracked up! The music has a great frantic quality to it that makes it uncertain if the songs will self-destruct or go veering off in another direction at any given second. I can only hope that when Welcome plays live there is lots of stumbling, bumping into one another and falling down taking place. But all in a friendly sort of way, for, as frantic as things sound at times, the songs also have a warm, upbeat, almost pretty quality to them. This is especially true on the tracks featuring Jo Claxton on vocals. Her smooth and soothing voice counters the jagged guitar tones and blends seamlessly with the quieter moments. The production quality is also quite interesting in that it manages to sound lo-fi (it was recorded in a basement) yet quite clean and expansive. The lo-fi / raw quality is most likely the result of recording the songs live in 2 - 3 takes. How those raw tracks were then mixed into such a fine sounding album must be the result of a fair bit of skill and time. 'Sirs' is one of those albums that just won't let you not listen to it straight through. It's familiar yet unpredictable. Jagged and soft. Frantic and soothing. All of these apparent contradictions make the album very engaging listen after listen. 'Welcome' indeed!

Track Listing:-

1 All Set
2 Marry Me Men
3 Bunky
4 First
5 Natural Frost
6 Actual Glad
7 This Minute
8 Sirs
9 With You With Me
10 The Coffee Girls

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