Le Man Avec Les Lunettes is, apparently, an Italian project that has a French name and sings in English. Add to this the fact that this review copy of the Saturate It, Then Reverse! EP claims to be the Swedish edition, and the unsuspecting punter can be forgiven for feeling just a tad of locational confusion and a self-defensive impulse to write the review entirely in German.

But this merging of homelands kinda does make sense in context: this EP is itself somewhat resistant to being pinned down. Experimental pop meanderings which amble from _Sergeant Pepper to Flaming Lips via bar piano and cabaret cymbals, it’s rare for even one song to stick to its guns for long enough to be defined. Try and make a slick definition stick to the whole album, and it’ll slip across the border to confound you in yet another unfamiliar tongue. Suffice it to say, then, that this is a gentle album which values a simple tune as much as it does barrowfuls of odd noises and waves of hissing fuzz, and which melds the two together in a manner which might be just a bit too smug if it weren’t done with such a sense of moderate calm.

It’s one of those albums which I suspect needs time to grow on the listener, and is admittedly all a bit too woolly-edged for my tastes. But those who like their playful soundscapes with a stiff dose of mellowing humanity might, given time, find themselves becoming rather fond of this amiably low key EP.