The Electric Cinema - The Electric Cinema

Siblings don't exactly generate creativity – just think Oasis, Embrace and the twee guff of Magic Numbers. But The Electric Cinema are different. The Watford quartet's sugar-coated melodies and symphonic atmospherics invoke images of The Flaming Lips' ingenuity cavorting with the grieving air of Arcade Fire. Their eponymous debut LP beautifully captures this cosmic surrealism with lavishly textured arrangements melting dreamily inside the eardrums. Guided by Dan Neale's fragile vocals, it's an invite to a world of tuneful sincerity that becomes a stunningly visual affair once you've unravelled the layers from tracks like the bewitching 'Brand New Blues'. 'It's Fire We Crave The Most's tame Athlete-ism sits unsteadily amongst the album's forward thinking but this is easily forgiven when there's such a mass of wonderment to explore. As families go, the sound of The Electric Cinema is like that effortlessly cool big brother you wish you'd always had. [Billy Hamilton]