THE IDEAL CRASH

dEUS are a little known quintet from Belguim, never afraid to try something new. "The Ideal Crash" is a beautifully layered art-rock album, where you discover more with every listen. The lyrics are often very mature and poetic, telling wickedly insightful stories about murder, lust, undeserving friendships, lost loves and hope. It is a record that can, and does, mean many different things, to many different people.

The music has some infusions of jazz and funk with emotive rhythms which can be strange, elegant as well as calming and dreamy.There's plenty of great trippy keyboards and lovely stings, creating a relaxed mood.

The song structures are inspiring too. The opening number "Put the Freaks Up Front" in particular, starts off with a dark guitar riff. Just when you think they consume themselves with loud rock, it breaks into lounge styled verses with some subtle jazzy horns. These kind of surprises pop up a lot throughout, sneaking up when you least expect it.

Sister Dew' is one of my favourite tracks. It's actually about a killer, though I can't help but feel touched by the words. Listen and you may know what I mean.'The Magic Hour,'is an enchantingly slow piano ballad and also a highlight. And you won't miss the banjo and string tinged 'Instand Street.' where its optimistic lyrics and word play reverse the songs meaning, half way through.

This is very interesting stuff indeed. It's an intelligent, quirky, charismatic, infectious record which has a complexity and energy well worth checking out. As I said earlier, it does need repeated listens to appreciate fully. Four solid stars.