30 years back, a progressive act from Rome took the name Giardini Di Miro and almost even got a record out. But they didn’t bother. So they split up instead.

And then the nephew of one of the original band members got a group together to cover ’Ciatta di Vetro’ - an old track of the erstwhile legends in their own lunchtime – which was in essence a rediscovery of the original act’s ethos through updated rhythm and metre, through a new introspective stringshod postpoprock quaintness that was surprisingly insidious. Keeping up so far?

The reason I mention all this is because the ‘new’ GDM have a timelessness that sits in perfectly with any number of hippy-dippy 70s graspers you’d care to mention. This is not, however, in practice, entirely a great idea. The songs gifted herein have a slightly lumpen lifelessness at times that is unsatisfying, though intrinsically cute.

’Rene! This is a Melancholic Hip-Wop!!’ is suitably epic and regretful of texture, all cumback guitar and high-register dissonance over intimate-mic'd, lazily-delivered lyrics and what appears to be a frog croaking in the background. As the water-tinkles and bells intrude, the overall feeling is of lost loveliness in a haze of self-doubt. This is entirely what Giardini di Miro seek to express throughought this release.

As it is, though, the GdM experience shimmers like the sun through a shard of tainted glass fallen from the church of self-righteous, staining, polarising phantasy and parsimony of performance.