Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Phil Goss, As If.'s enigmatic lead singer and guitarist, recently described the band's sound as "a cross between the Chemical Brothers and Pink Floyd" which is a fair stab at pigeonholing a techno-tinged pop rock sound that remains determinedly illusive. Take for instance the moodily dark ballad "Winter" with its Eastern sounding guitar and its chilling line, "Welcome to the pain I feel inside," or the old style rocker "All Fall Down" complete with honking sax from Ben Castle, or the opener "Love Is." with a Euro dance beat. It's the lyrics though which are the most intriguing. Beside each track CD browsers are guided to a website so those so inclined can absorb more info on the subject being sung about. This is helpful as left to the lyrics alone, some themes would remain obscure. Certainly, though the websites picked on for musical celebration are intriuguingly mixed. Pride of place is the song about the 19th century church minister interested in the paranormal who subsequently disappeared and possibly murdered for translating the Bible into Celtic with the villagers putting round the story that he was captured by the fairies! Only a band as defiantly left of centre as As If. would endeavour to pen a song about that!

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