“Mystic Rainbow, he’s a biter/Red Volcano, he’s a biter” – I couldn’t tell you what that means, but I’ve had those lines from ‘He’s A Biter’, the fifth track on Immaculate Machine’s new album High on Jackson Hill stuck in my head for the last few days.
That’s not a bad thing.
The album has a nice smattering of catchy hooks like that: the second track on the album, ‘Thank Me Later’ has a funky guitar riff that you’ll have ringing around your brain all day and the penultimate one ‘Only Love You For Your Car’ has a fantastic little organ twist in it that is just as memorable.
Immaculate Machine back up these hooks and riffs with some sturdy-to-the-point-of-
And in a way that is how I felt about this album as a whole – I really liked it and there are a lot of good songs on it, but in the hands of another band perhaps they could have been even better. The occasional uninspiring song, such as the dreary ‘I Know It’s Not As Easy’, brings this album down from the potential heights it could have reached.
However you shouldn’t let that distract you from the positives – it is a pretty accessible record that should appeal to fans of New Pornographers and Hot Hot Heat, and one that I would certainly recommend people listen to; even if it isn’t going to change their lives, at least there are a number of really good tracks on it.