Rating: three stars

This album grows on you. At first all I could hear was a stream of esoteric lyrics, banked with tunes that didn't make an impression sung in a rather high pitch.

I knew it was clever - "Five fives are Christmas and twice me is you" had to mean something - and music owing very little to electronic intervention had to be respected, but did I want to listen?

I didn't, but I do now. As soon as I stopped trying to understand the words - the lack of punctuation in the sleeve-notes doesn't help - and allowed the harmonies, strings, tubular bells and thigh slaps to wash over, I started replaying tracks. If All We Had Were Stars and See You In My Dreams will be hummed for the next week at least.

Ben Parker and Jason Hazeley are musicians first and an act second. They met while working together in a sheet music company where it dawned on them their combined skills were a match for the professionals they were meeting.

Three albums, an imminent single and a recently completed tour of a quality circuit suggest they were more of a match for many.

SCC