Musée Mécanique - Hold This Ghost

Taking their name from a curious Californian music-box museum (and conceived in a marginally more prosaic setting, an antique arcade museum), Musée Mécanique’s sound is appropriately nuanced and intricate, with ticking percussion underpinning saw, organ, trumpets, bells and probably a whistle or two to boot. But while I’ve never had the pleasure of perusing such an establishment, I’d imagine that once the initial marvel subsides, all that clockwork can get a bit dull – another, less favourable trait the band occasionally share with their namesake. Everything on Hold This Ghost sounds perfectly placed, but the effect, though pleasingly tuneful, occasionally lacks a pulse - a mechanical amalgamation of Beirut, Mercury Rev and The Notwist’s offbeat symphonies rather than a living, breathing entity in its own right. But at its best there is an elegant beauty to Hold This Ghost’s dustiness, its vintage instrumentation and wistful atmosphere laced with borrowed nostalgia. [Chris Buckle]