Jo Passed Their Prime

The most surprising thing about the recent Arctic Monkeys album is the realisation that people still actually seem to make records with my personal ear in mind. I'm talking about records with unusual melodies, surprising jumps in dynamics and lyrics that you need to think about a couple of times. It's not a one off though. People like Jo Passed are doing pretty interesting stuff too. You can tell from opener 'Left' that they have studied their Beach Boys and the Beatles textbooks but if you were coming here for an album of baroque pop you've arrived in the wrong place. The first batch of tracks in quick succession then.... 'MDM' sounds like the Lily's in a garage, 'Glass' has a post Deerhoof jerkiness and there's nods to Women in 'Undemo'. The thing that runs through it all is that nothing really goes where you expect. Things lurch forwards, backwards, with certain songs like 'Facetook' seemingly played inside out. 

It is the latter track that makes me decide that this is 10CC having soaked up the best bits of the last ten years of indie rock. Sorta unhinged and completely willing to experiment,  this is a sonic tour de force of experimental songwriting. Very interesting indeed and if it gets into the right hands could be one of those word of mouth classics.