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JIM NOIR Tower Of Love was one of 2005’s most beguiling releases. The oddball collection of sun-dazed psychedelia was banged out on a bedsit budget but sounded like a million bucks. Now Jim Noir is back with a proper debut album (Tower was essentially a collection of his EPs), and he’s as charmingly frazzled as ever. The basic premise is pretty much the same as before. Noir remains a one-man psych/pop alchemist, building layer upon layer of multi-tracked vocals, lysergic keyboards and effects galore (phasers and flangers are set to stun throughout) to produce near-perfect three-minute pop epiphanies. It’s a woozy and decidedly English take on late-’60s psychedelia as epitomized by “Penny Lane”-era Beatles, early Pink Floyd and the Move, thrown together with the shiny retro-futurism of contemporary soulmates Super Furry Animals, St. Etienne and the Aliens. That said, it’s not all sublime pop thrills throughout. Jim Noir occasionally gets just a little too whimsical for its own good, the lyrics often seem like an afterthought at best, and the unnecessary, ironic use of a vocoder should hereby be made a criminal offense punishable by public castration. But these are minor quibbles. Overall, this is as disarming and wide-eyed a pop record as you’re likely to hear all year. [Barsuk, www.barsuk.com] —Neil Ferguson
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