el goodo

Coyote

A very sixties sounding affair, Coyote arrives with doffs of the cap to American West Coast pop and The Beatles' early catalogue. The band responsible for this acutely observed voyage into the annals of popular music are El Goodo, hailing from South Wales, and delivering a devilishly accurate vintage production helmed by Super Furry Animal Cian Ciaran. The band commence this debut full-length of theirs with a mighty slab of psych-rock in the shape of 'Feel So Fine'. It's a smart opener given that this sort of thing never really gets old and it doesn't fully reveal the retro predilections that sway much of the tracklist. By the second song, 'Aren't You Grand', the Merseybeat allusions really start to kick in, although in this instance they conjure The Coral or The La's more readily than Lennon & McCartney. This isn't the last time you'll find yourself thinking of The Coral actually: 'I Saw Her Today' plumbs a '60s production style but the songwriting is probably closer to the sort of thing you'd hear from the aforementioned Wirralites. What with the recent Erland & The Carnival album, you might deduce that there's something in the water at the moment that leads bands to acquire the sort of mock-retro gallop exhibited here, but it hasn't got tired yet, so bring it on, I say. The album does occasionally dip into the murky waters of pastiche, cheekily riffing on the Beach Boys for standout 'Don't Worry Marie' and donning its shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather for the occasion of album closer, 'I Only Dream' (which steals slightly more of 'Venus In Furs' than it probably meant to) but you can forgive such mild excesses given the sunny songwriting and well studied craftsmanship that dictates the rest of the album.