At best, a rich man's
Air. At worst, tedious, superfluous, hippy-dippy, overly ironic trash.
Lemon Jelly .KY can be both, of course -- often at the same time -- as Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen compile their first three EPs of fizzy chill-out for those late-night lava lamp staring sessions. It's downtempo for the acid generation. An eschewing of popular
prêt-à-porter after-hour aesthetics. You wouldn't catch many an icily cool dance group writing songs of slow-motion fascist mamba marches ("Homage to Patagonia"), universal U.K. garage meditations ("Page One"), or Edward Scissorhands sipping cocktails at Eighteenth Street Lounge Music ("His Majesty King Raam"). Perhaps a good thing. Surely, while the title may be up there with
Bent's playground puns, and the packaging both dazzling and refreshingly blunt (cautioning owners of the original EPs to spend money elsewhere), at least
Lemon Jelly know that -- when it comes down to it -- sounding like buffoons of a genre is a really smart move to make. ~ Dean Carlson, All Music Guide