My first experience with Belleruche was earlier this year in Melbourne when I managed to catch them live. My initial thought was they were a poor man’s Portishead, but it’s an injustice to dismiss them simply as a copycat. Yes, Kathrin DeBoer’s soulful voice has the same smoky sexiness as Beth Gibbons, and the tracks combine turntables, samples and bass guitar, but Belleruche are a lot more positive in both the lyrics and general sound of the music itself, with the music being a little less complex and informed as Portishead.

Their first album was called Turntable Soul Music, and this album continues in the same vein, but is perhaps a little bluesier than before. Anything You Want (Not That) is a jazzy little upbeat number. Backyard is swinging backyards blues, with steel guitar over the simple beat of a drum machine. Idea Three gets a lot more funkier, but the blues returns in Goose Blues.

The record continues in the same vein with Like 4 The Hard Way, then gets a little more pace with Rumble Strip. My favourite track is How Many Times, a short and sweet rocking blues track. Scratch My Soul is the most downbeat on the album, a headnodding blend of echo-y guitar and scratched beats.

Late Train has that awesome blues train feel, accentuated by the horn stabs, and you can imagine an old steam train racing down the tracks as the song plays. The music being simply bass guitar, sampler/turntables and voice mean the music is pretty sparse and simple, unlike the aforementioned Portishead, and the space between sound and silence works especially well on You’re Listening To The World’s, the last track on the album.

I was really impressed with Belleruche’s second album. It’s distinctive and has a sense of cool about it. It’s similar to other music, without being copycat, filling a unique space in the catalogue of modern music.