THe MONOCHROMe SeT

Maisieworld 8/10

Bid for god: eligible bachelors’ fab 14th

Their post-punk roots having long since grown out, the prettiest boys from the Rough Trade class of 1979 are entering their fifth decade sounding not unlike a funky Blue Öyster Cult fronted by Samuel Taylor Coleridge – a fair measure of the Monochrome Set’s difficult brand of fun. The fifth full-length addition to their louche canon since singer Bid recovered from a stroke, Maisieworld addresses the problems of over-solicitous wellwishers (“I Feel Fine (Really)”) and mail-order brides (“Mrs Robot”) with a Charles Hawtrey chuckle, while “Stage Fright” and “Shallow” showcase the Londoners’ more rugged side. Knowing, and yet eternally unknowable.