Being part of the Portland scene which not only spawned Sleater Kinney and Elliott Smith but is also home to Stephen Malkmus, you might expect Quasi's music to be of the slacker side of rock; lo-fi perhaps. And while there is a certain looseness in their sound, partially driven by Weiss's bombastic drumming, When the Going Gets Dark is a surprisingly eclectic album with a richly textured sound. Apparently, this is the first album in a while (and there's been seven so far) which hasn't been home recorded, and it sounds like they've made the most of it.

So despite the connection with the aforementioned Portland 'scene', Quasi probably have more in common musically with oddball New York indie sibling duo Fiery Furnaces. From the crashing opening bars of Alice the Goon, it's evident that there is going to be some experimental stuff going on - not by the album's instrumentation, which is pretty much drums/guitar/piano/voice - but with tempo changes, dissonance and experimental production techniques, all of which seek to skew what might otherwise be fairly straightforward scratchy guitar pop.

While the title song and Peace and Love are two such tracks, the album is better characterised by songs such as The Rhino - a drum workout accompanied by what sounds like Coomes headbutting the keys on his piano. Forays into the experimental continue with the instrumental which appends Beyond the Sky and Presto Change-O; the former a sonic workout twinning droning organ with various backwards-recorded noises; the latter a repeated motif which becomes increasingly distorted until dissolving into white noise.

Lyrically, the album maintains the band's political PC stance which was so evident in the predecessing album Hot Shit. "Peace and Love aint no pose/ it's not some song you sing in shows" Coomes espouses in Peace and Love, while Poverty Sucks has a sly dig at capitalism ("poverty sucks but it ain't no sin").

As the album progresses, you get a sense of why Janet Weiss fits well into a duo/trio format. Her drumming is expansive and high in the mix, filling space wherever it finds any. She's got a crash cymbal and by god, she knows how to use it. Sometimes it's a little indulgent, particularly the rather tedious Death Culture Blues and the rather pointless instrumental intro to Merry Xmas. Her harmonies, however, are divine and help flesh out Coomes' reedy, plaintive holler.

There's much to appreciate on this latest offering from Quasi but the band is certainly uncompromising and you need to be into loud drum workouts, the odd bit of white noise and occasional dissonance to enjoy it fully. Take note of the album's cover, showing a lion coming out of the stereo. It's not a bad depiction of the album's contents - so brace yourself.

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