Race Horses - Goodbye Falkenberg

 It was always bound to happen that the two best Welsh bands to emerge from the 90's - Super Furry Animals and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - would be followed by similar singularity from fellow countrymen. It's just puzzling how it's taken this long. And while there's more to Race Horses than the two comparisons they've no doubt already grown tired of, the Aberystwyth four-piece at least offer something similar to the healthy Brit Pop alternative led by Gruff Ryhs and Euros Childs some 15 years ago. Race Horses deal in sharp, unpredictable and ambitious indie-pop, a currency there seems to be little use for in a 2010 Britain where if you're not a vaguely interesting female artist or sharply dressed Eighties devotees, you may as well get out of town. Not that any of that would matter a jot to a band so bored of modern music that their town would include neighbours ranging from The Kinks to Syd Barrett. On Goodbye Falkenberg, the band's lively debut, it's a concoction that offers results that are rough around the edges but potential that is unquestionable.

For the latter, you need only skip five tracks to the mad-capped Cacen Magmu and while you'll likely not have a clue what Meilyr Jones is singing about either, you may well agree that it's one of the best three-odd minute rides in quite some time. Unable to stand still for more that a few seconds, much like the band themselves, the song veers wildly from a frantic, shouty opening through a couple of gorgeous Gorkys-like, horn-assisted bridges before a burst of Michel Gondry scene-hurtling-backwards like strings (we think) culminates with some damn fine la-la-laing. Oh and then more shouting. It really is as brilliant as it is accomplished. It's by no means a lone highlight either. Next up, 'Glo Ac Oren' - one of three songs sung in native tongue with rolled r's a plenty - takes another page from the Gorkys book and is pretty as hell. Roll back a few and 'Man In My Mind' opens proceedings with Fuzzy Logic-esque efficiency while the psychedelic rush of Cake (are they talking about one of these or one of these?) keeps momentum going, as does the perfect pop of 'Pony'.

However the shape-shifting does take its toll. The title Goodbye Falkenberg is a reference to a ship bombed during WWII and you'll certainly need your sea legs to get through this dizzying collection. It also trails off towards the end of the possibly one-too-many 13 tracks with 'Scooter' sounding a bit school battle of the bandy and 'Captain Penelope Smith' proving one ship-deck romp too many. By using the old cram three songs into one trick, 'Marged Wedi Blino', by some way the longest song on the album, manages to rescue an otherwise forgetful finale but also closes Goodbye Falkenber with a note of anticipation. You can insert your own 'furlongs ahead of the pack' horse racing cliche here.