Review: Logo Magazine

Los Angeles based Minibar have already been compared with The Thrills, thanks in part to a shared palette of dusty, big-sky alt. country and subdued Californian languor. There's more to it though, for Minibar formed in London in the mid-90's and, like The Thrills, relocated themselves to California in 2000, releasing their debut, Road Movies, the following year. Universal - their label at the time - largely ignored it, as did the public, but this second effort (their first UK release) is far more accomplished, pulling off the not-inconsiderable trick of grafting autumnal Anglicana into a shimmering backdrop of heat-hazed desert highways. Theirs is a gift shared by fellow alt. country expat Peter Bruntnell (he still lives in England, Minibar are staying where they are), the ability to see both their adopted homeland and the country of their birth through the eyes of an outsider, bringing to it a sense of wistful longing that has long been the hallmark of the finest Americana; for evidence see Son Volt and Willard Grant Conspiracy. It is with the latter that Minibar bear the closest comparison: ghostly strings, pedal steel, accordions and harmoniums evoking an air of ineffable melancholy that, on closer inspection, is but a veneer. Rather than miserablism, lines like "It is what it is/There's no need for argument at all" ('It Is What It Is') and 'Fragile's "There's nothing we can do anyway/So just smile and tell yourself it'll be okay" illustrate acceptance of the state of things and an inspiration to keep moving. Had Road Movies not flopped, Fly Below The Radar' wouldn't be the album it is; the road to greatness is indeed strewn with trouble. (3.5 stars out of 5)

From Logo Magazine