Luxury Car -‘When I Was Good.’ (Biphonic Records)

Having released both the Swimmer One and Seafieldroad albums last year, 2011’s first release sees Biphonic continuing to build upon their reputation as purveyors of fine, Scottish electronic pop. Luxury Car is songwriter John Robertson (guitars, keyboards, vocals) and Kieran Heather (bass), and was recorded with John’s brother William.

A seven track album with many excellent moments, this is more experimental than either Swimmer One or Seafieldroad. There’s a gorgeous melancholia present here, particularly on ‘I Play The Guitar.’ It’s also a wonderfully atmospheric album, with a lot of unusual stuff going on, and it sounds all the better for it. As I wrote in an earlier piece on them: ‘Think The Blue Nile. Think Boards Of Canada. Think Errors…and think it in the same act.’

At thirty-three minutes, it might appear short, but there’s an awful lot to enjoy here and play and appreciate again and again. The only thing that seems a little odd is the placement of ‘Shame’ at the end of the album. After six tracks of electronica, it almost seems a little incongruous to have a piece that’s solo acoustic guitar and vocal.

No matter. This is a fine piece of work.

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Luxury Car – When I Was Good (sampler) by Biphonic Records

When I Was Good is released on Biphonic on February 28.