If Alfie were a TV show, they would probably be something like Bagpuss or The Magic Roundabout. Like them, Alfie’s debut album, A Word In Your Ear, was an exercise in simple pleasure, harking back to carnivalesque, uncomplicated, ruddy-cheeked times. Their blend of simple cellos, brass and Somerset-sun hued folktronica resulted in comparisons with one-time label-mate Badly Drawn Boy and, on occasion, The Charlatans and the similarly pastoral Kings Of Convenience.
As with many second albums, it seems as though Lee Gorton and his band of merry men have gained confidence and, as a result, this album, like an over-excited child, juts off in many more directions than their debut ever did. Sure, the music is still delightfully lackadaisical and booze-woozy in places, but there’s a hell of a lot more going on behind the band’s droopy eyelids.
On ‘People’, Lee Gorton’s trademark bumbling vocals are married with an unusually uptempo track which sounds decidedly like something Sebadoh might have once offered, while the psychedelic ‘Stuntman’ and ‘Protracted’ would not sound out of place on the Beatles’ Revolver album. Herein lies of the joy of the album – in much the same way that Beck approximates remnants from disinherited musical periods, the production of the album is fresh and inventive yet the overall vibe is still vaguely nostalgic. Actually, forget Bagpuss, ‘No Need’ and ‘Chop Chop’ are the sounds of Phoenix Nights come to life.
So there you have it; Alfie are not so much the band that time forgot as the band that time has been playing serious mind-games with. Fortunately, it has all been worth it, and Do You Imagine Things? is a fookin’ fantastic album.