Magnetophone - 'The Man Who Ate The Man' (4AD Records) Released 24/10/05

Magnetophone who last recorded an album some 4 years back return with an album that shows promising potential but leaves just little tasters in the lasting memory. Using guitar and programming to bolster some oblique and wayward songs, exploring instrumental textures and experimental sound that at times come across as cinematic, at other times psychedelic or ghostly, Magnetophone bring forth comparisons with Boards of Canada for sound-washes and programming, also with Primal Scream when they're more 'up'.

'Let's Start Something New' opens the proceedings with an electronic doodle-oo, sounding like a Boards of Canada giblet and painting an urban landscape by morn, pursued by 'Kel's vintage thought' which has all the grit, grunge and dirt under the nails of the modern urban reality. '...and  may your last words be a chance to make things better' features neat skiffle drum-programming, guitar plucking and washes, plus sampled-sounds like when you run the radio-dial through the MW band too quick, the voices at times singing about "...may your last words on your grave be...".

Richer offerings on 'rae and suzette' - a lovely melodious track with churchy-organ and psychedelic keyboards whilst in the background rifle-range firework explosives ricochet like you're caught in a cross-fire. A sweet little firecracker! 'Benny's Insobriety' has the promising title and delivers in abundance - like a manic take on Kraftwerk's 'Autobahn', lyrics come and go, whilst the programming lowers the tempo, before the beats lift in a kind of techno-lite and antiquated keyboard sounds play-away, ushering in the offering for the dancefloor bods. 'In the Hours After' is a classy 60's-styled-garage-band-space-rock track with strumming guitars and pedals for atmospherics, lyrics you can barely make out and a doobey-doo rhythm.

'Without word' is pretty churning with a heavy militaristic-stride, repetitive sound-samples and lyrical-wisps and words - it's the kind of track that is like one too many hits on a heavy bong. Just let time do its thing. 'I've Been Looking Around Me' is a dainty Caledonian folk-song with accordian and electronic sounds like digital water down the plughole and "Goodnight sweet love, lay down your head and rest...I  love you, but Jesus loves you best, I bid you goodnight...", a canny shanty. We round things off with the opening tracks keyboards which have now picked up a song along the way, and a guitar for the strumming.

Its an album that's like meeting an old-friend you ain't seen for a good while, and it's good to catch-up and meet once again, but it's just for that moment. It's a album that fits well in the 4AD cannon, and it's well worth a listen for its experimentalism, but fails to leave a magical or indelible impression