Album Review: Mik Artistik's Ego Trip, More

Fawned over by everyone from the Glastonbury organisers to Johnny Vegas and Iggy Pop, Leeds native Mik Artistik is like the bastard son of John Shuttleworth, John Cooper Clarke and Sleaford Mods, with a sprinkle of our own Jinx Lennon mixed in there too. His band’s economically titled tenth album More sees him deliver, well, more of his trademark accordion and acoustic guitar-based observational odes; however this time around there’s an increased introspective, downbeat vibe threaded through the tracks which really reel the listener into the self declared “old baby”s world.

Comprised of ten new songs and four re-worked numbers from the vaults, as amusing as the likes of ‘I Don’t Need Heroin’ and the George Formby-flavoured ‘Life And Soul Of The Party’ are, it’s the darker efforts which really make you want to take this (ego) Trip again. The rather brilliant ‘Box Sets’ takes a banal passtime and makes it seem quite sweet (in a grim way), while ‘Swiss Family Hutchinson’ is a Bad Seeds-minded, pleasingly murky murder ballad. Best of all is the spoken word ‘Tribute Band’ which is arguably the most absorbing number Artistik has put his name to.

Out now.