CHERRY RED
With R.E.M.’s Peter Buck disappointingly subdued, those looking for echoes of their glory days will be disappointed by this curious collaboration. Auteurs fans, though, will delight in Luke Haines’ consequent freedom to ramble about eccentric themes. As always, his gruff vocal, with its quietly sneering quality, is an acquired taste, whether on the muzzled Apocalypse Beach or sinister Witch Tariff. As are the out-of-tune recorders accompanying Buck’s strums on the strange tale of Jack Parsons, a Scientologist rocket engineer. Instead, his chugging riffs are perhaps better suited to Haines’ theatrical huffing on the malevolently funny French Man Glam Gang, while the album’s title track starts out like Bowie’s Scary Monsters before quickly transitioning into what sounds like Bristol’s R.E.M.-endorsed The Blue Aeroplanes.