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Latest disc from those crazy Welsh, with a strange artwork sleeve depicting a sombre desert "town" (more like a favella) (obviously a mining town) with weird elk-like trees, or totems if you wish. As this scene is repeated endlessly throughout the pages of the booklet, I am not sure that it has much to do with the often-sexual lyrics (they are not funny as Pye Hastings of Caravan though), but this is of course part of the habitual SFA manner of their inside jokes. I believe I spoke of impenetrable in another review of their album, but in this case, the lyrics might prove the opposite (sexually anyway) of impenetrable, IF they provided the manual to go along with it. While this album is not quite as obtuse as Mwng, it will still take the average prog listener some twenty listens (at least) to get to the bottom of the stuff, and only be frustrated by the lack of real depth of the tracks proposed. I mean, the music is well recorded, rather entertaining with plenty of funny effects, but on the whole it remains shallow (or hollow) as for the proghead to become bored before the fated twentieth listening.

As with previous album, the music slightly/gently hints at their 70's influences (Ohio Heat id CSN&Y), Horn is A Parsons-esque, Laser Beam is quite Sweetish-Sladeish, Frequency is Krevitz-laced (which is really taking the biscuit if you think about it >> Krevitzing Lenny is downright shameful), and so on.. Everone of the tracks bears its influence and not always very subtly. Clearly SFA is aiming with this album for the American market, with their numerous references Western US name-dropping ("driving Denver snow" >> taken from a Talking Head-influenced Back On A Roll with bad strings) while keeping an eye on the British market: There are Radihead moments also here and there.

Overall still not original, but what is exactly original as RnR engages its fourth decade? But what irritates me is the shallowness of their work. The ideas are not that bad, but are simply not thoroughly applied. While the music in itself is not that bad (it remains pleasant), and I might appear severe with my rating as well as with my review, I am reminding you that progheads are always supposed to like deeper than usual music. Which generally counts SFA out.

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