There must have been a heatwave when the Rainbow Family were crafting their debut album in the highlands of Scotland. This is Not A Circular is a decidedly summery affair full of lush harmonies and sunshine pop, from start to finish.
Grandiose opening track ‘Have What You’ve Got’ is a well chosen overture to the album, showcasing grander ambitions than those of more typical pop fare, such as you might expect to hear on drive-time radio. The Rainbow Family clearly love and have an aptitude for crafting melody, but they would prefer to challenge your ears with unexpected chord progressions and dissonant bursts of electronica, even as they invite you to sing along.
Indeed, despite lyrical references to sun and clouds, it isn’t all sweetness and light on this record, which contains moments of eeriness and melancholia, such as ‘String Thing’ which is reminiscent of Portishead at their moodiest. ‘Seagus’ is a very odd but accomplished-sounding final track, recalling at once Ween, the Bee Gees and Paul Young.
The title track is a particularly good example of when their formula works perfectly, with a chorus which effortlessly flits back and forth between major key optimism and minor key dread over just a couple of bars. Such successes – the laidback groove of ‘Face the Colours’ is another standout – indicate the craft that has gone into this album and that it is well worth sustained listening.
On the negative side, with repeated plays the often severely treated vocals become slightly grating, as can the sampled snippets of speech with which the album is peppered. The mix of styles can also be jarring at times, a confusion perhaps reflected in the lack of certainty over the track-listing (revised after initial sleeves were pressed).
None of which should take too much away, however, from a band trying to do something different, and largely succeeding, within a genre which is all too often left to those who would put three minutes of thought, into their three minute pop song.