It is a weird world out there. The whole music business has gone safe and to judge by mainstream radio, there is little else out there besides pretty plastic pop stars and everybody is looking back in time for their music. However, hiding in the undergrowth (probably since its release in 2006), the true original waits to invigorate our ears.
So how do we describe Mouse Eat Mouse? Part Billy Connolly (honestly, just listen to the "Cubismo" on this album - and that would be the funny Connolly and not the sad old man trying to wring laughs out of profanity that we refer to), part John Cooper Clarke, part Robert Burns and part Allen Ginsberg, it is not so much music as a deranged cross between a poetry reading and an Isaac Hayes' rap. Hot buttered fruit scones! The title track "Mair Licht" rants with frustration. "Red and Black" is almost a conventional song about trendy lefties and their revolution through shopping approach to life. "Aye and Ay" covers similar territory but with some well aimed shots at our politicians. Ending on a truly surreal note with PSSTT…, well, Bluesbunny is not entirely sure what the lyrics mean on this one but the sax solos sound just like the theme from seventies' hard man cop series, The Sweeney. You just can't get bored with this album as there is so much going on that you have to keep returning to it in case you missed something. Even now, we don't think our review does, or even could do, it justice.
It is a strange world indeed that Mouse Eat Mouse inhabit but we think that they sum themselves up quite nicely (from "Mouse Eat Mouse World") with "…you can the mouse oot of the mickey but you can't take the mickey oot of the mouse". If you live outside Scotland, then you might wish for subtitles at times but, as with all things worthwhile, you should persevere. Music with meaning that tackles social issues such as sectarianism and still succeeds as entertainment is rare indeed. Strongly recommended.