Edinburgh-based off-kilter pop merchants (or, as they'd have it, purveyors of sweetly sick sour pop) Mammoeth unleash their debut album to a fanfare of horns and cellos accompanying their Beatles-influenced brand of melodic tuneage. It's all well and good, but at the risk of provoking stupendous levels of controversy, I never really dug The Beatles and this kind of nicely crafted accessible pop, regardless of the quality of the lyrical content or the harmonies, just leaves me cold. Perhaps it's because it's all been done before and so many times it simply doesn't have an effect. Perhaps it's because it simply doesn't speak to me on any level.
Whatever, 'Nascent' is a charming and tuneful collection of songs with some nicely delivered harmonies and orchestral arrangements that tug on the heartstrings ('I Want to be Someone When I Die' is notable as an example here). There are moments when the lyrics delve into darker territories and contrast with the chirpy pop framework of the compositions, and everything comes together nicely... but. There has to be a but. Many will probably be enraptured by this album's abundant charms and classic Beatles-esque bittersweet happy melancholia. I'm just not one of them: Mammoeth's sound just doesn't set my soul on fire or touch my heart.
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http://www.myspace.com/mammoeth
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