The Smoking Rolo Sideshow collective are a strange bunch. A group of more than 20 musicians, hailing mainly from the market town of Alnwick in rural Northumberland – this was never going to be a standard pop record now was it?
Songs seem to float hazily from an idyllic English setting (think Syd Barrett and Caravan), into more stoner-rock, almost grungy moments. Queens of the Stone Age this definitely is not, but there is a subtle undertone in there somewhere.
Credit must be given for the vision which the Sideshow are trying to create, and they are indeed but fingertips away from reaching their goal, but this album doesn’t quite get there. There are moments that strike a chord; the disturbing (if a little cliché) “As in Uffish Thought” caught my attention between two largely predictable songs.
As such a large collective, Smoking Rolo Sideshow are clearly struggling to find a distinctive sound they can call their own. Their album is definitely a two-sided coin, hopefully the Sideshow can blend into something unique in years to come.
6/10, out now
Words by Chip Phillips
myspace.com/thesmokingrolosideshow
