NME Album Reviews Mockingbird Wish Me Luck Days Come And Go

Published on 12th July 2008 (UK)

Media title : NME

Author : Gavin Haynes

In the land of orchestral indie pop, the bloodline is always pure, meaning that the genre often wears the glazed expression of theterminally inbred. Step forward, please,the cherub-cheeked, flaxen-haired facesof MWML: eight young Swedes whoDIYed their debut in their parents’ flats.This was a years-long labour of love andit shows: the arrangements are knittedlike lace doilies, all apologeticallyparping brass overlain on tremblingflutes, topped by wry but sincerehometown poetry. That’s not to say itlacks triumphs: ‘New Beginnings’ especially bops along like a marzipan EStreet Band, but sat so firmly in the valeof their Belle & Sebastian forebears, it’s difficult to see what they’re adding to the gene pool.