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Of Arrowe Hill describe themselves as Scouse stoner-mods, which is immediately off putting. Yet their bruising, heavy psychedelia has an unmistakable British quality. Perhaps this is shouldered by the fact that I Are Becoming Instinct completely rips up The Beatles' in their Sgt Pepper phase, then injects it with layers of distortion. Kind of like a lazy rock version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, if you can imagine. This, combined with the powerfully prog guitar leads and drowsy, drunken vocals of Coming Up on the Inside, leaves them ricocheting somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Aereogramme.  Which technically shouldn't work, but it does.

Mia Clarke
June-July 2003

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