THE LEISURE SOCIETY – INTO THE MURKY WATER

English eight piece The Leisure Society’s Into the Murky Water is their second album following their 2009 debut The Sleeper. But there are no second album syndrome issues for The Leisure Society as they have consolidated with this release. Pop without the pop arrangements or instrumentation. Not your guitar and drums pop rock sound, nor a programmed beat or synth.  The Leisure Society replace these with string instruments like the mandolins, ukulele, violin, viola and cello,; augmented by flutes, organs and glockenspiel. The best example of the use of these instruments usually used in an orchestral or jazz setting is the 1st and title track Into the Murky Water. The extended intro of this track is spellbinding. The strings and glockenspiel sounds twist around each other in a dark and chilling dance. It sounds more like a film score to a Tim Burton film. There are elements of this throughout the rest of the album but nowhere else in the subsequent tracks is the music given the same space to run free. Indeed so well do they do it, that a shift to orchestral pop instrumentals by The Leisure Society might be a smart next move.

***1/2