They may be named after a Smashing Pumpkins song, but there's no guttural metal or apocalyptic rock on Jeniferever's debut album. Choose A Bright Morning, however, has everything that fans of Sigur Ros, Mew, Leaves and their ilk will adore. The Swedish (surprised?) quartet specialise in epic soundscapes, lush, layered arrangements and bare, glacial melodies that the New Scando Revolution has become famed for in recent years. With nine tracks spanning over an hour, most could certainly benefit from a shearing; happily, Kristoffer Jonson's vocals, at times markedly similar to Mew's Jonas Bjerre, save the lion's share - including several ten minute instrumentals - from the doldrums. There's excellent use of strings (A Ghost In The Corner of Your Eye), horns (Winter Nights - reminiscent of Broken Social Scene), banjos (Marks) and even something that resonates like a whale's mating call (Swimming Eyes) on Choose A Bright Morning, and some captivating chord changes to boot. Alas, because they opt for the oft-used 'quiet-loud-quiet' formula, nothing here will flabbergast either fans of the aforementioned bands or the simply curious beholder. Jeniferever are five years too late to be groundbreaking; but nonetheless, they've created a decent, and indeed, sometimes beautiful debut album.
