You can always be sure that the next Try Harder record to pop through the letter box will be interesting, challenging and more than likely, good. Don't expect the ordinary, especially if it's from Oxford and doubly so if the outfit is Jonquil. This long player allows the fresh faced outfit, led by Hugo Manuel to produce fourteen tracks of uplifting melancholy. It's brighter, but certainly isn't faster, than "Sunny Casinos" - carefully orchestrated, lilting movements on tracks like "Babe, So Now Why No?" amble out with melodic hooks and lumbering drum beats. Jonquil aren't afraid to gel their genres and often there's just a slight taste of folk or brassy gypsy music left behind . "Whistle Low" is an astounding track and perhaps their most accessible along the way.

4/5

- Emily Slowlie

manchestermusic.co.uk

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WORK007
Jonquil
"Lions"

1. Lily
2. Sudden Sun
3. Keep It In Keeping
4. Pencil, Paper
5. Babe, So Now Why No?
6. ------
7. Lions
8. Here's To The Little Man
9. Subtle Strains
10. Magdalen Bridge
11. Whistle Low
12. Sleepy Like Pudding
13. Shore
14. I Don't Need Advice

CD album