Tindersticks: Marbles 10”

THIS WELL-TEXTURED export from the British outback contains comfortably-paced soothe rock dominated by strange choral organ riffs. Two of the four songs feature slightly disembodied vocals descended from Nick Drake, Lou Reed and Chris Isaak, with ‘For Those’ winning the creepy organ prize for ghostly amusement park themes. The maudlin cover painting of a big-eyed little girl holding a fluffy white big-eyed little dog enhances an overall impression of elderly widows in Midwestern cities listening to the record while slowly knitting doilies on plastic-covered divans. There is an unsettling taffeta-prone Lawrence Welk air about the music similar to no other band that comes to mind. A vague easy-listening Pavement reference is discernable, but most often Tindersticks stand odd and alone.