The Gothic Archies, The Tragic Treasury: Songs From a Series of Unfortunate Events

Cult singer and composer Stephen Merritt is no stranger to the themed concept album, and this latest, under the imprint of the Gothic Archies, is a collection of original songs corresponding to the 13 books of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Snicket himself is actually Daniel Handler, accordionist with Merritt's best-known band the Magnetic Fields, and Merritt's lyrical dark wit chimes nicely with the books' macabre surrealism ('In the hole of the soul of Count Olaf there's no love'), though it will probably retain its rather specialist appeal.