Rockbites: Adventures In Stereo’s Monomania: lushly insidious

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September 2000 • Rockbites Alternative Daily

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Adventures In Stereo’s Monomania: lushly insidious
8 September 2000

Glasgow retro/futurist pop duo Adventures In Stereo released Monomania, their third album (second widely available), this past July.
    As the LP’s title implies, the new disc like previous AIS product is monaural—part of main man Jim Beattie’s fixation on the ’60s. And while the mono sound and other aspects of the LP readily evoke stereotypical images of California surf and Beach Boys innocence, Monomania is a far more innovative piece than that might suggest. Beattie uses the ’60s aesthetic as an instrument rather than a target. It contributes to the overall impression but doesn’t define or confine it.
    Monomania is perhaps more structured and less dreamy than the band’s 1998 release Alternative Stereo Sounds. But this only makes its aching, lush beauty more insidious. If anything, the lovely pop hooks delivered in ethereal multitrack by singer Judith Boyle penetrate deeper into one’s viscera before grabbing hold.
    Adventures In Stereo are on tour now in the US for the first time. They play the Khyba in Philadelphia tonight, continuing through 23 September with a closing show at LA’s Spaceland. The first single from Monomania, International, is still available from the UK with non-album backing tracks Baby So Rich and Grooves. | AIS on jockrock | | International (single) from Amazon UK | | bio | | discography | | sample | | CD | | top of page |

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