ANIMAL LOVER

The never normal Residents have a 'Cyberman' singing on the opener 'On the Way to Oklahoma', where (the story goes) - a guy goes mad, thinking he's a tiger and kills a dog. A good return to form if you ask me.

Tuneful, scary and one of the darkest albums they've released. A lot of folk seem to dislike the story lines of latter day Residents albums, but in my opinion this one hangs together much better than most. The opener really is a belter and even got played on BBC radio 3 in 2005 at which I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, and still am to this day.

There's a lot going on in ;Animal Lover' which doesn't have a dull moment, but does seem to have a cloud of gloom hanging over its entirety.

There's a feeling of despair on 'Animal Lover' that I'm not used to on previous Residents albums, which kind of threw me sideways, particularly when nameless Mr Resident himself sings. There are one or two tunes that are instrumental, probably to make you work out the story for yourself. Most of the songs are sung by Molly Harvey who sounds like a ghost flitting from one scene to another. Scary Biscuits...

Basically, the whole album is about how humans are seen through the eyes of animals on each track and it's not too attractive. Damn... it's pretty sad actually.