Robbing Millions - Holidays Inside

For the first outside release on their independent label, MGMT (yes, that MGMT, they of ‘Kids’ infamy) have scouted out a seasoned songsmith from Brussels, Lucien Fraipont, to release his quietly adventurous second LP. Lucien has, in recent years, bent his ear towards an arresting style of whizzing, progressive avant-pop that bears much of the humorous, leftfield eccentricities of his patrons. Composed day-by-day within the introversions of Lucien’s home, and produced by indie-pop journeyman Shags Chamberlain (Drugdealer, Ariel Pink, Weyes Blood), ‘Holidays’ valorises the nooks and crannies of domestic comfort - tea drinking, sit down meals with the family - with a commensurately homespun sonic palette - dinky keyboards atop tick-tocking shuffles; squeaks, wobbles and scratches nesting among piquant, blossoming guitar licks. Containing barely a jot of tedium, ‘Holidays Inside’ is a smartly paced, highly impressive listen that manages to exceed the sum of its parts.