Cargo Records

Schoozzzmmii

A zany but sunny folk-rock record that fits equally well with late-'60s West Coast pop and contemporaries like Super Furry Animals.

There's a lot of Syd Barrett and Kevin Ayers in these quirky songs, especially whimsical tracks like "Brown Cow," but also a joyfully bittersweet, even Lennon-esque innocence on something like "Rainbow." Of course there's a lo-fi home recording quality to everything on the album, definitely reminiscent of Daniel Johnston's homemade pop. Some songs, for example, seem fractured -- "Down and Around" is a riveting Beatlesque number, but it never quite becomes fully realized. Still, that's part of the charm. Anderson is a gifted songwriter who seems to be able to do well with just about any style -- whether acoustic rock, chamber pop, psychedelia, or experimental compositions -- even on pieces that seem thrown together. Throughout this strange and marvelously slapdash album full of oddities and fragments, the true gems shine in all their glory -- "Sallyzimmerman," for example, is a pop song that can stand with the best of them. And it's this prolific, homegrown vibe paired with a knack for downright catchy pop that makes Lone Pigeon Scotland's answer to Ween. AMG