The Mutton Birds: Rain, Steam and Speed

Reviewed by Russell Baillie

*****

The Mutton Birds

Rain, Steam And Speed

(Shhhh!/Virgin)

It's a strong album that can make you reconsider what you've said about its predecessors. But such is the fourth album by the Mutton Birds, the New Zealand band which has been based in Britain in recent years, fighting the good fight for thinking blokes' guitar pop'n'rock in an uncaring pop world.

The album takes a little while to grab, partly because it's a fuller-bodied brew soundwise, rendering frontman Don McGlashan more the voice of a band than the quirky singer-songwriter-with-backing he's sometimes seemed before.

But when Rain, Steam And Speed does take hold, it does so with a hearty backslap. One which leaves the brain echoing the hooky harmonies of Green Lantern, the ebullient Pulled Along By Love and the closing big surge of Ray.

It likes making a big noise when it wants to - especially care of newish guitarist Chris Sheehan - though McGlashan's songs haven't lost the urge to find beauty in creepy little corners.

That's there in the dreamy drift that begins Small Mercies, the even sleepier ghost-town ballad of The Falls, and the wiry, weird Hands Full.

Add to that a couple of acoustic-framed pauses for thought (the Celtic-folkish Jackie and the amusingly country-shaped Goodbye Drug) and you've got one of those cohesive albums where you remember the mood shifts across the tracks as much as the songs themselves.

It also leaves the impression that it's a record of real heart, occasionally infectious enthusiasm and effortless tunes, rather than the hard graft and cerebral songcraft of the past. So all things considered, including the previous three albums, this is terrific. *****