Welsh singer-songwriter Cate Le Bon first hooked up with California psychedelicist and former member of the Fall Tim Presley for 2015’s Hermits on Holiday. On that album they made the sort of circa 1979/1980 post-punk that was easier to admire than to enjoy, all awkward song structures, self-conscious experimentation and – at times – grating repetition.
Disappointingly, the follow-up doesn’t offer much in the way of progression, with the same flaws still very audible. There are moments of cohesion, most notably Corner Shops, where gorgeous melodies transcend the off-kilter rhythm and the two voices complement each other. Some of the instrumental interludes, particularly the ghostly lo-fi piano piece When I Was Young, impress too. And then along comes the painfully discordant Ducks, with its lurching beat, wilfully tuneless singing and idiosyncratic deployment of percussion. It lasts less than three minutes but seems like an eternity. Leave the Lights On is little better. While Hippo Lite does have its moments, well before the end you find yourself reflecting that Young Marble Giants, Rosa Yemen and the Raincoats did this far better almost 40 years ago.
