Onceweresixty - Don't Get Stuck (Uglydog Records)

You can’t beat a good band creation myth, and you would find it hard to better the idea that Onceweresixty owe theirs to the ghost of a beatnik biker living in a broken toy keyboard who compels them to make weird psych-folk pop! It beats the usual story of putting an ad in a music paper and auditioning whoever shows up.

Back after a ten-year break, although admittedly that was five years ago, the band make the sort of music that fits loosely into genres such as college rock or alternative, but even those don’t seem exactly right for the off-kilter pop and wonky indie music that they make, if “Don’t Get Stuck” is anything to go by.

Reminiscent of bands like Belle & Sebastian, Sparklehorse and Guided By Voices, theirs is a strange sonic world that drifts and crawls rather than drives or grooves. Slacker Rock? Perhaps, but if so, it is more through the attitude they adopt or overall vibe that hangs over the music that makes it so rather than the style of the music itself.

But one thing is sure: “Don’t Get Stuck” is brilliantly odd. And odd is a good thing, right? Odd is off-beat and unpredictable. Odd is outsider and unimpressed by fads or fashion. Odd is exploratory and out of context. Odd is the only way to go.

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