Album: Sizer Barker

Hotel Juicy Parlour, PRE

Sizer Barker's frontman and songwriter, Carl Brown, seems to have suffered a string of frustrating blind alleys. Starting out as a studio engineer, he joined Space as replacement guitarist just as their progress ground to an ignominious halt. Embarking on a solo career as Sizer Barker in 2000, Brown's first single "Day by Day", a wistful, yearning song built on an intriguing blend of zither and accordion, was well-received but soon disappeared. As follow-up, he choose "Something in the Park (Is Always Happening)", a curiously childlike but sinister number about feeling out of place and afraid in New York. It was slated for release on 14 September 2001, but for obvious reasons never appeared. Brown soldiered on with a slimmed-down line-up of fellow multi-instrumentalist Tim Bruzon and bassist Maria Hughes, finally completing this stylish debut album. It's a sparkling, diverse collection, full of Beatlesque melodies and quirky, exotic arrangements featuring weird, warped Eastern horns, plangent guitars,

Sizer Barker's frontman and songwriter, Carl Brown, seems to have suffered a string of frustrating blind alleys. Starting out as a studio engineer, he joined Space as replacement guitarist just as their progress ground to an ignominious halt. Embarking on a solo career as Sizer Barker in 2000, Brown's first single "Day by Day", a wistful, yearning song built on an intriguing blend of zither and accordion, was well-received but soon disappeared. As follow-up, he choose "Something in the Park (Is Always Happening)", a curiously childlike but sinister number about feeling out of place and afraid in New York. It was slated for release on 14 September 2001, but for obvious reasons never appeared. Brown soldiered on with a slimmed-down line-up of fellow multi-instrumentalist Tim Bruzon and bassist Maria Hughes, finally completing this stylish debut album. It's a sparkling, diverse collection, full of Beatlesque melodies and quirky, exotic arrangements featuring weird, warped Eastern horns, plangent guitars, burring organs and the aforementioned zither. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Brown's songs depict a world of fleeting opportunities and unfulfilled desires, where chances must be grasped quickly before they evaporate. Well worth a listen - it's the least he deserves.