Merry Welsh pranksters Alex Germains, Ceri Thomas and Tomas Helar have been making considerable critical and even commercial progress since their self-titled second EP dropped onto W&H's doormat over twelve months back, and - let's face it - "I Gotta Sing" was always the one screaming out to be the next single from their impressive "Messy Century" debut album.
Sensibly, these canny Welsh lads have brought in John Leckie's production nous for the new! improved! version of "I Gotta Sing", which features extra beef in this format thanks to live drums, mellotrons and strategic strings all helping out. The end result is a real contender and almost (whisper it!) Beatlesque in its' execution. It's possibly their best single yet, though with lyrics like "I'll chase parameters/ I'll fake the amateurs" their impressive little quirks are still happily intact.
The well of creativity's clearly not run dry either, which is a heartening sign considering the Festivals and Club Nights these lads seem to eat up. Indeed, the two brand new B-sides are fine outings in themselves. The all-too brief "Can We" starts off weirdo, electroid and distorted, but soon breaks into a surefire stomper in the same vein as "Ripen", only with inbuilt pastoral lay-bys and phased B-roads to trip down, while "Cavern Deity" soon transcends its' mysterious, Druidrock title by bubbling into Super Furries' style pop with a cool, chromatic bassline and a mega euphoric chorus. It's only minutely too weird to be a single in its' own right actually.
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Apparently the 7" features an unmissable psychedelic remix of "Belgique Limb" by Lex Records' producer Boom Bip, so that may well be worth shelling out for as well, but whatever format you choose, you won't be disappointed by the heights Mountaineers are now aiming for. Their base camp is indeed solid these days.
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