Matt Berry

Blue Elephant

Lightweight psych-pop nostalgia from moonlighting TV comedian.

On TV shows like The IT Crowd and Toast Of London, Matt Berry has established an indelible comic persona that has proved both asset and liability during his long musical side career. An inescapable air of gentle pisstake thus hangs over Berry’s latest knowingly analogue psych-pop collection, even if his intention is sincerely affectionate pastiche rather than ironic retro parody.

Billed as a counterpoint to the more straightforward singersongwriter material on last year’s Phantom Birds album,

Blue Elephant is a much more sonically ornate, instrumental heavy affair steeped in Summer Of Love nostalgia, from hazy Carnaby Street reveries like Aboard and Safe Passage to the lysergic, backwards-masking, lightly trippy Forget Me.

Structured as two lengthy musical suites, in homage to the vintage vinyl era, this slender exercise in flimsy whimsy boasts plenty of charm but few substantial songs. The wistful shape-shifter Blues Inside Me, which sounds like Ray Davies jamming with Mungo Jerry, is a notably strong exception. ■■■■■■■■■■