Rating: NNNN
The backstory of Mystery Jets suggests a much stranger band than they are. They hail from a tiny place called Eel Pie Island (population 120), were founded by a prepubescent Blaine Harrison and his father, Henry, who started playing music together to provide a hobby for Blaine that wouldn’t conflict with his physical disability. (He has spina bifida and walks with crutches.) Their early work owed as much to prog and psych as it did to pop, and many mused that their third album would see them returning to the stranger side of the spectrum.
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However, instead of catering to the music nerd crowd, they’ve set their sights on the stadiums, and it suits them well. Every track sounds like a potential single, and the production is huge and glossy – in a good way. You can hear the entire history of British guitar pop music summed up, sometimes in one song. What’s really impressive, though, is how all the nods to glam rock, shoegazer, new wave and 80s indie rock blend together to produce a sound that’s maddeningly familiar but completely unique.
Top track: Flash A Hungry Smile
Mystery Jets play the Horseshoe Monday (September 13).
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