British Lounge-Country combo The Parish Music Box album debut Paradise Is Pocket-Sized swirls along in a cheerily melancholic fashion with sideways glances at Gene Pitney or a gentler Nick Cave nibbling the toes of Lambchop.
Romantic, sentimental and bitter by turns. the album has a darkly cheery quality as well as subtle tributes to The Smiths, Bowie, Beatles and a whole raft of long-forgotten 70s TV stars.
Produced by Colin Elliot (Richard Hawley and Tony Christie), the album has had the gestation period of a baby elephant: recorded independently by the band at Yellow Arch Studios in Sheffield over 4 years, quickly signed by Universal and just as quickly wrenched back from them by the band in favour of ploughing a stubbornly independent furrow.
"Over the time we recorded the album we have seen The Arctics, Tony Christie, Jarvis Cocker and Hawley wander through the place. We are guessing that the Viagra in the dressing room wasn't the Arctics and the Clearasil wasn't Tony's."
This is the kind of music you can play on a rainy day and let it repeat over and over....
