The Proper Ornaments - Six Lenins

The Proper Ornaments' third album Six Lenins is a trip down familiar lanes. The band are something of an Indie supergroup, featuring members who've made records with Veronica Falls, Ultimate Painting, Toys, Charles Howl and Wesley Gonzalez. While this may not impress the uninitiated, it could also draw in those that might have enjoyed records by these outfits previously. I count myself among that number, and have very much enjoyed listening to Six Lenins on quite a few occasions over the past week since its release.

Front men James Hoare and Max Claps divide the songs and vocals between them just as Hoare did in Ultimate Painting with Jack Cooper. They're both less ambitious writers than Cooper and subsequently this is largely a retreat into the known, though no less welcome for that. The band's Spotify page lists The Velvet Underground, Love, Left Banke and The Beach Boys as starting inspiration points. That's a fairly accurate description of what's going on here though while all these bands are American, there's actually a fairly consistent English feel to proceedings here. Certainly in terms of the record's temperament.

It's all soft psychedelia, wet Autumnal days and returning to damp lodging accommodation  brightened by the poised, crafted guitar tunes coming from the record player in the corner of the room. I'd add a couple of other names to the list above to try to locate the feel it generates more fully. The record reminded me of the records that Primal Scream and The Weather Prophets made on Elevation Records, the offshoot of Creation on WEA where Alan McGee tried to cash in on what he saw as his most commercially promising acts in the mid to late Eighties.

So while neither of those bands produced classic records with their debut albums Sonic Flower Groove and Mayflower as they were both mired in the past and their influences, and lacking in forward trajectory, Six Lenins is not burdened by the commercial expectations that either of them were facing. The Proper Ornaments are playing to a small but established audience with specific tastes and the album should satisfy them comfortably. It's their best record and while by no means a great one, it is something I'll return to whenever I'm seeking a certain mood.