The Melting Ice Caps – Permissible Permutations

The debut album from The Melting Ice Caps is a delight; chock full of wonderfully crafted songs and beautiful singing. It’s the kind of thing that people often describe as being terribly English, when really its just what happens when someone savours singing every word and takes great care when writing every word and crafting melodies. This confusion is perhaps best shown by the Divine Comedy who are often thought of this way, despite the main and only man being Irish, but qualifying for the latter qualities.

It kicks off with a brief title track, a minute in which space is plenty, but a lot is packed in. He’s a hopeless romantic. He being David, the main man and centrepiece of the band. The romance is not just in beauty, but in the everyday, in the downbeat and downtrodden.

With Ghost Writer a disco beat arrives and I’m reminded of the Pet Shop Boys. Often I hear hints of The Associates in the music too. David doesn’t soar like Billy Mackenzie used to, but he has that delicious arch quality.

The pinnacle of the album is the nigh on perfect pop song that is Indian Summer. As well as the joy of summer it has the hope of Spring and warmth of Autumn. Closer Medical Advice is fun, and reminds me of Marc Almond doing his Jacques Brel thing.

Find the Melting Ice Caps website here, which also tells you where you can buy it.