Here are a band sufficiently confident of their talent to plough their peculiar path without yielding to commercial temptations.

Many listeners will think they are miserable, boring even, so you've got to admire the way the band refuse to give their recordings any superficial attractiveness.

Perhaps they understand that strange pop phenomenon: the fascination of inaccessibility. That is, they know the pleasure it gives a listener to gradually grow to like a song - at first you think there's nothing to it, but eventually you come to believe that its the catchiest, most perfectly crafted thing you've heard. This album holds your interest in that way.

If the band have a fault, it's that they're a touch too interested in creating an atmosphere, rather than expressing themselves properly.

Tindersticks are talented and unyielding to commercial temptations. Find them on the This Way Up label.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.