If there's one thing that Clear And Refreshing hates it's "electronica". It's a horrible term, a mutant word used to describe what happens to dance music when you can no longer dance to it, when all the fun, pop and sex have been surgically extracted and turned into glue.

Mice Parade has been cursed with the term in the past but, on the evidence of this, unfairly so. The skittering beats and whispering vocals of "two, three, fall" have an uncomfortable whiff of coffee table to them but as the album progresses it becomes clear that this exists in a warm, acoustic, organic world of its own where computers are the glue and the fun, pop and sex have survived and decided to take a quiet, low-key weekend away at a mountain hot springs resort.

In a step onward from 2002's "The True Meaning Of Boodleybaye" there is a smattering of real singing dusted across the album. "Focus On The Roller Coaster" has folksy echoes of Van Morrison and Nick Drake and "And Still It Sits In Front Of You" is a dreamy kraut-folk protest song. Also an unassuming highlight is the miniature, acoustic lullabye "Spain", the sound of My Bloody Valentine getting sleepy in a power cut. Elsewhere, the album maintains a sense of intimacy, as well as a bizarrely all-pervasive image of running water, through the consistent use of live instruments but never sounds less than modern thanks to Adam Pierce's inventive beats and sound understanding of the value of repetition. -Ian Martin, Feb.17.04

Obrigado Saudade