Last year Canadian Colin Skrapek delivered a collection of bedroom symphonies which reflected an appreciation of Stockhausen just as much as it emulated The Flaming Lips. To follow it up was always going to be an interesting challenge but the new Maybe Smith release opts for a direct route to melodic pop Utopia. Were it not for the use of distortion, 'Underground Lost And Found' and 'The Nihilist' could feasibly be teenage pop fodder. Thankfully these prove to be just blips amongst eight other far smarter tracks. 'Everyone Ruins Something' incorporates a warm bass rhythm and twinkling star atmospherics, 'Robots In The Park' moves into languid, psychedelic mode and 'The Sad And Lonely' is an ambitious, epic Beach Boys-style pastiche. Perhaps the one consistent criticism about Skrapek is his limited reedy vocal which is perhaps a little too influenced by the Grandaddy/Flaming Lips/Mercury Rev "holy trinity"; that said he manages a decent Wayne Coyne impersonation on the fragile beauty of 'Hey, Cosmonaut!'. Overall it's another very good Maybe Smith long player which manages to be more accessible without sacrificing the will to experiment.