Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - "Let It Sway"

The melancholy months are setting in, but Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin aren't ready to let go of the summer vibes just yet. This is their fourth record of feel-good indie rock and finds the band at their most inviting.

The appropriately titled "Back in the Saddle" is aptly placed at the forefront of the set and it instantly grabs and stuns. It's a summer anthem as anthemic as they come, but with a sly, progressively structured backbone. It definitely gets this LP off to a jump-start and shows that this is a band that want to be heard at this stage in their career. "Sink/Let It Sway" doesn't let the quality standard slip either, with its clean guitars, keyboard melodies, and a truly irresistible chorus. SSLYBY have their influences close to their hearts throughout this release - the overall vibe captures the mood of the laid-back catchy, guitar-driven indie acts of the 90s. Think Pavement with less of the mid-tempo jangling and more of the enthusiastic vocal hooks.

"Stuart Gets Lost Dans Le Metro" marks a surprising shift, at least temporarily. It sets a refreshing and gentle melancholic mood for the first moment of Let It Sway's second side. It comes in with a flurry of keyboard stabs and acoustic guitar with soft, solemn vocals. It glides along quietly like the current transition from Summer to Autumn, and it's probably the most memorable moment on the album just because it is such a notable and successful gear shift.

The rest of the album returns to the familiar territory established in its first act, which is something of a pity given the promising style the band had just hinted at. This would be more of a well-rounded record if it had more of a balance between moods. Still, they do the power-pop stuff well. "Phantomwise" sounds like something Weezer could have come out with in the mid-90s, and yes, we've heard it all before, but when it's done so well it proves pretty hard to turn down when you're in the right mood. Let It Sway is primarily focused on positivity, and it suits SSLYBY well here. They sound comfortable.

Let It Sway knows what it is and mostly goes for it with successful results. It's rare that an album so conventional can still stop you in your tracks a good few times along the way, so this may well be the answer if you're looking to fight off your seasonal-affective disorder with some strong, energetic melodies. Who knows, it could well be your soundtrack to next summer.

"Let It Sway" is out now on Polyvinyl.

of Montreal - "False Priest"

Georgia-based indie-pop veterans of Montreal can't be faulted for their productivity. Since forming in 1996 they've produced a steady output of albums and EPs, gaining popularity and acclaim within indie circles. Across their discography, founder Kevin Barnes has incorporated a wide amount of themes and ideas into their music. 2007's Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? was a concept album which partly documented Barnes' fictional transformation into his gender-bending alter ego Georgie Fruit. That album was flowing with creative energy, and though it was upbeat and camp, it also contained an unmistakable darkness within. Its follow up, Skeletal Lamping, continued this concept, placing Barnes' fictional character within a wild landscape which shifted its structure constantly. Within each track was a dozen other little songs and segments. It perhaps didn't match the immediacy of its predecessor, but it was still clear that the band had not run of ideas at that stage in their career.

Of Montreal's tenth LP False Priest is different both sonically and structurally from their previous couple of efforts, yet they're still undoubtedly the same band with the same ideals. The playfulness and the humour are both still present, yet the band are somewhat reserved here. The songs on False Priest are still catchy, though they're less windy and therefore easier to take in on first listen. This also means that they hold up less to repeated listens. Barnes' falsetto is played up straight from the opening song "I Feel Ya Strutter". He always had a knack for staying on the right side of irritating on previous albums, but since the songs on False Priest are more linear and less adventurous, one may have less time for him here. Lyrically, he parodies the overt sexuality associated with funk and R&B, which is fun at first, but the silliness can sometimes overstay its welcome.

The best tracks by far on False Priest are the ones with female vocals. Janelle Monáe appears on two tracks, and her delivery is smooth and sensual, particularly on the chorus of "Enemy Gene". She works well when she duets with Barnes, who in turn sounds more reserved, which works much more in his favour on this album. Solange Knowles also delivers an impressive, soulful performance on "Sex Karma". These guest spots are well sequenced and provide the necessary respite from the more tiresome moments on the album, where of Montreal can end up sounding a little flat. The fantastical characteristics of their earlier releases are kept to a minimum. This isn't totally a completely harmful move - the lead single "Coquete Coquette" is reasonably hooky with a solid riff, but that's about it - it's far removed from the band's best work. There's less of the flowery arrangements and more focus on live instruments overall, which makes everything less exciting. That darkness mentioned earlier is gone, spare a few lyrical sprinkles on "Godly Intersex". There's nothing here that can match "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" from Hissing Fauna, or even "No Conclusion" from its follow up EP, Icons, Abstract Thee.

of Montreal are probably due a detour like this every once in a while - they certainly sound like they're still having quite a lot of fun - it's just that sometimes this mood does not extend beyond the band's own little sphere. It's unclear whether or not the band will push further in this direction on future releases, but at least the band don't have intentions to stop releasing music any time soon - there are already plans to bookend this album with an EP titled The Controller Sphere, which is due for release in spring 2011. Until then, we'll just have to make do with feeling slightly underwhelmed.

"False Priest" will be released on 13/9/10 on Polyvinyl.

Boris & Ian Astbury - "BXI"

Japanese noise veterans Boris have become well known for their dramatic genre shifts between albums as well as their collaborations with other artists. Their album with Sunn O))), Altar, successfully blended the sounds that both groups had always harnessed. The relentlessness of Sunn O)))'s signature extended noise pieces made room for the softer segments brought into the mix by Boris, and the album ended up coming across as a somewhat "lite" version of the music both bands had been famous for at the time. This isn't to say that Altar was a compromise for Sunn O))) and Boris - it was in fact a sensible starting point for anyone unfamiliar with their sounds and would bode well for weaning listeners onto their respective back-catalogues.

BXI, the new four-song collaboration between Boris and The Cult vocalist Ian Astbury, is a little different. It finds itself more in line with the bizarre 80s glam-rock revival sound Boris have recently associated themselves with at times on their latest full length, Smile. Hence, Astbury's vocal contributions are well suited here, and much of the material sounds like long lost Cult recordings. It feels as if there is a conscious decision on the part of Boris to make BXI sound this way, which is no bad thing. These vibes are directly revisited on the only track Astbury leaves untouched, a cover of the 1985 song he wrote, "Rain", with Boris guitarist Wata's whispers replacing his trademark croon. The song is given a blackened yet gentler makeover here, and would make an interesting comparison for fans of The Cult.

The rest of this short twenty-minute set is strong overall. It's filled with moody 80s guitar riffs and crashing drums. A collaboration of this nature may seem unsuited as a concept, but Astbury taps into Boris's sound very well and the music seems to be built for his performance. His vocals here retain the power that they had on The Cult's classic singles, and the nostalgic sonics explored by Boris closely mimic a familiar alternative rock sound. Even better, Boris do not come across as negatively as they have on some of their patchy and over the top recent work. The length of this EP also means that the songs can progress without feeling like a retread of what has just come before. BXI is another successful collaborative Boris effort. It is a nice little addition to their back catalogue and is recommendable to fans of both Boris and The Cult. Think about that for a second - it's an unlikely marriage of crowds.

"BXI" will be released on 16/8/10 on CD from Southern Lord. A vinyl version will follow in September.