Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Although Spygenius’ album The Comforting Suture came out in 2012, to find it amongst the spread out and slightly eclectic offerings on a long table, could be seen as serendipity, a moment of providence in which to take full advantage of and delve into at the very earliest convenience.

Whether you have heard them before or not, there is something, as the album title handily suggests, of the comforting nature of the band. Something terribly exciting but also placing the band in the realms of the reassuringly familiar, it may take a while but eventually it does spring forward like an over active Labrador puppy chasing its own tail. The sound that you are hearing and are gratefully enjoying is a hybrid somewhere between the humour employed by groups such Half Man, Half Biscuit, albeit with more of English southern county bent, the beautiful sound employed The Beach Boys and the keen observations on British life by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

The comfort is there and it makes for great listening, an album that can easily be played and forcing the listener to read between the well scanned lyrics for clues that lead them on a search for the playful melodic sound. There is no seam between the mid-60s sound that was fought over between the likes of Pet Sounds and any John Lennon  track; the join, well and truly stitched over and patched together with songs such as the emotive California Sunshine, A Room, Full of Telephones, the excellent Trains, which is a track of genius, and the lyrically scrutinising  K is Mentally Ill.

The four member s of the band on this album, Matt Byrne, Alan Cannings, Ruth Rogers and Peter Watts combine so well, that the deliciousness of pop, pop music if a certain era is invoked and enjoyed. The spirit from days long since departed and that may appear so far away now to the younger listeners of music, is simply as cool as it was when their parents heard for the first time albums such as the aforementioned Pet Sounds,  Revolver or any of the music that was coming out of the West coast area of America.

The Comforting Suture may be a couple of years old now but if you can get your hands on a copy, you will not regret it. A class act!

Ian D. Hall