The Soundcarriers/ Celeste

The Soundcarriers
Celeste
(Melodic)

The early nineties has long been a residual pool of credibility for indie. And like a burning litmus paper of everything that was cool two decades ago, The Soundcarriers adroitly plumb the experimental depths of a period when guitar music shone searchlights way beyond itself.
However, while the likes of Mary Chain and MBV have been reiterated to death in recent years, it is the mighty legacy of Stereolab that The Carriers take for their point of departure.
The opener ‘Last Broadcast’ finds itself firmly in the time of the 'Lab, with motorik guitars-as-springs, and some fuzzy math-gaze nods to the notoriously underrated ‘All Natural Lemon’ and ‘Lime Flavors’.
On ‘Step Outside’, pre-Lovelife era Lush are given new blossom, propelled by a Scott Walkerish neurotic march. And if this all sounds as if The Carriers have merely remixed a Ladytron compilation, it's because their touchstones lurk in exactly that neck of the woods. It's that most clichéd of things – a deeply familiar album, but with a lightness and surety of touch that renders it fresh.