The Sandwiches’ Our Toast

Title: Our Toast

Label: Empty Cellar

Forget the niceties, let’s great straight to the songs. Sunny Side? Often, slightly…just ever so slightly strange is actually stranger than being really, really strange. Such is Sunny Side. In fact, it sways with a romantic meandering air that resembles a slow walk down a country path. Smelling the flowers and the like. It’s slightly quirky and slightly unhinged. The harmonic delivery is innocent, simple and smilingly joyous. Bless ‘em.

So, Brian, what a start to the game! Can they maintain the energy throughout the first half? Play It Again Dick changes the tone, downwards, so maybe not. Now we’ve entered dirty, swamp rock from the darkest, crocodile-infested shores of the US of A. There’s something ‘knowing’ about this track. But, again, the group drags you in. Even though its to a different sort of space.

A girl group trio, consisting of Grace Cooper, Heidi Alexander and Roxanne Young, the next track, Sleeping Practice, sees the gals shift the tone again to a lonelier aspect. Goodness. This LP started out ever so cheery and, since then, it’s all been downhill in mood. Nevertheless, the sleepy tempo does accompany the low key style with a snoozy covering until we get to Dead Prudence and the tempo almost grinds to a complete halt. This song is the sort of song you sing when you are lying in bed, hovering between wakefulness and sleep. In that middle region, the Twilight Zone, if you will. Dead Prudence encourages an almost ghostly, ethereal but peerlessly beautiful vocal that takes you on a journey that tracks the setting sun of your consciousness. Rapidly becoming my favourite track on the album.

This is an album that is packed with variety and buckets of charm but don’t think that’s code for twee and shallow: far from it. This is a savvy girl group who are have a heap of great ideas that has been well programmed into a impressive album.