A musical collective lead by artist/composer Jamie McDermott who have become known for their 'happenings' at various theatres and galleries, including Tate Britain, it's interesting to see how their music will fare on its own, when it's more usually part of a theatrical experience combining dance, film and lots of other artsy stuff.

At first you recoil before the weirdness of it - strongly-mannered vocals that owe something to Scott Walker’s delivery of Jacques Brel, over sudden skirls and arpeggios produced by a modern-day chamber orchestra. The B-side, Knife Song, is particularly challenging on first listen: if you took the electro elements out of The Associates you'd get something like this soaring and surprising sound. The more you listen the more compelling it becomes; perhaps it's simply a matter of getting used to the sudden shrieks and piercing instrumentation? Somehow it finds its way onto my daily playlist over and over. Highly recommended, but give it time to grow on you.

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