In reviewing Micko and the Mellotronics‘ ½ Dove, ½ Pigeon album in 2020, we delighted in what we then described as a piece of work blending ‘rock shapes with determinedly off-kilter noise and confusion.’ Well, here is some news: Micko‘s new offering Le Vice Anglais is simultaneously – and gloriously – more of the same. But it is also even better. More in that Micko‘s charmingly lyrical genius remains crisply eloquent, but better (in crass commercial terms maybe) in that the Mellotronic sound has become a bit smoother and a bit poppier. There’s an early Blur-flavoured Britpop feel to much of this material that is refreshingly anachronistic yet, paradoxically new and invigorating. From the initial feedback howl and angular riffing of the opener...