The Bishops' shtick, around the time they first emerged with debut album The Bishops in 2007, was - as far as I can recall them entering my consciousness - one of reproducing an authentic early 1960s British garage band sound, and style (I think they used to all dress in matching suits, with ties and smart haircuts, etc). This time round some of the high concept seems to have been jettisoned, with their label claiming that the band have "returned to a more contemporary-sounding act", but will they make any more impact?Honest answer: I seriously doubt it. This is a perplexing album, but only in the sense that it is not really clear to me why anyone would have bothered to make it. The 14 tracks contained here are lyrically unremarkable, melodically quite simple to the point of monotony, and best described as vaguely sub-scallydelica (I'm thinking here of the likes of Cast, say, or The Zutons). Perhaps the intention is to deliberately reproduce the naiveté of British bands of the early 1960s, but then, if this was their aim, why make the claims of modernity as per the quote above?I could go on to dissect this album track-by-track but - honestly - if you just aurally imagine weak "must rhyme at all costs" lyrics, conservative instrumentation with occasional brass (did I already mention sub-Zutons?) / harmonica / keys thrown in, totally predicable melodies and verse-chorus-verse structures, then you've pretty much got it. Which I really wouldn't recommend you do to the album (get it, that is...). 30%The Bishops on Myspace