Former vanguards of the NME'S spurious 'New Acoustic Movement', North Mancunian quintet ALFIE have found the birthing of their third child "Do You Imagine Things?" quite an involving and laborious business, as the sessions at Liverpool's Parr Street studios with producer Ken Nelson became a protracted process.
However, the end results will be beguilingly intriguing for anyone who's previously dismissed Lee Gorton's boys as an annoyingly slight folky throwback, with the band's open-minded new approach (thanks in roughly equal parts to their new deal with Regal and the employment of an Apple Mac) ensuring some refreshing diversity and experimentation entering the equation.
The album's two trailer singles give you some idea of the eclecticism on display, with "People" scurrying into view via nagging guitars more reminiscent of Sonic Youth or Yo La Tengo than the Stone Roses and "The Stuntman" hitching arse-over-tit Keefchording to Beefheartian rhythms and (erk!) a harpsichord. Crucially, though, neither omits a decent tune, and this is a standard that remains constant throughout the album.
And certainly, there is more memorable ground broken as proceedings roll along. "No Need", for instance, wrong foots you nicely by fading in via some weird, burpy phasing before settling into the sort of strident, summery brass-led pop The Pale Fountains would have appreciated; "Mollusc" melds "Pet Sounds"-style harmony heaven with creepy hammond and banjo plucking that recalls Neil Young's "For The Turnstiles", while both "Slowie" and "Indoor League" are truly strange and complex. The former IS slow and morose and pits jarring vibrato guitar against funereal harmonies before morphing into something kookily grandiose, while "Indoor League" initially sounds like it's returning to safer ground with warm Fender Rhodes and fanfare trumpet, but takes on an altogether weirder hue when Sean Kelly's huge, Flaming Lips drums smash into view.
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There are moments when Alfie resemble their former selves, such as on the Nick Drake-ian "Winding Roads" and the pretty "Isobel", while Lee Gorton's Ian Brown-ish timbre and the band's deluxe, junior Badfinger harmonies are largely sensibly retained, but while the Alfie of yore might have let the gentle Autumnal caress of the closing "Hey Mole" peter out ignominiously, this 2003 model turn it into a towering, anthemic quirk out all their own.
Your reviewer's no intention of being drawn into making daft pronouncements like "Do You Imagine Things?" being an indie "Sergeant Pepper" or whatever, but it IS a compellingly complex album which finds Alfie wide to receive and toying with a host of new ideas as their confidence has grown as a band.
"Throw me into territories new" drawls Lee during "The Stuntman", happily embracing their new-found sense of purpose. It suits them surprisingly well and suggests the future's full of possibility.
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