Marble Valley – Breakthrough

Having ex-Pavement and Silver Jews drummer Steve West at the helm has consistently led globe-spanning collective Marble Valley towards the slacker cool of his past.  Little has changed for their fourth long-player, the foundations of which were set over a single weekend in Amsterdam, with the band entrusting their leader to sure things up for the album’s release.  

The end product is a somewhat expected ramshackle collection of tracks littered with lo-fi quirk, much of which could easily pass for tracks from Pavement’s cutting room floor.  Though amidst the clutter, there are a fair few moments to savour: West’s fantastically disinterested drawl for one, which settles nicely across the fragmented riff of album opener Art Pistol, the deconstructed indie-pop of The Dan Map Experience and stand-out, Sweet Comparison.  Ultimately however, Breakthrough plays out like a distant echo from West’s past, indebted to that legacy, and sadly left sitting in its shadow.