Half Moon Run
Album: Sun Leads Me On
Label: Glassnote
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.halfmoonrun.com

Leaving aside the usual gripe about yet another album that's a track or two too long, this sophomore offering from the Montreal four-piece has much to commend it, not least the beautifully dense analogue sound of album opener Warmest Regards, which neatly channels the likes of Emitt Rhodes, Curt Boettcher and more recent sonic adventurers like Jellyfish, topped off with a tantalising, Lennon-esque vocal.

There are equally good things to be felt about the Americana-twisting Narrow Margins and the delicate guitar figures that decorate Everybody Wants, but too often the album sounds like a band reaching for its own identity that somehow refuses to gel.

The Debt wallows in its own misery and for no good reason Turn Your Love tries too hard to ride the Mumfords' coat tails. It doesn't do the album any favours at all.

With the possible exception of the new wave electro growl of Consider Yourself, the layers of synths and euphoric intentions of the closing track Trust stand apart, almost at odds with the rest of the record. Both suggest productive territory - certainly more so than the cod-Coldplay meanderings of Hands In the Garden - and perhaps bode well for record number three.

More judicious editing would have made a more cohesive record, but for now Sun Leads Me On stands as something of a pick 'n' mix selection box that leaves listeners to decide for themselves which tracks are Purple Ones and which are Toffee Coins.

Nick Churchill
http://www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk