When I think of Simon Breed, I picture him standing in a dank room, the walls slick and shiny with damp and moss. The carpets have been lifted, the floorboards squeaking and cracking under his weight. As he walks across the room to pick up his guitar, woodlice crunch underfoot. From out of the window, he can see a forbidding copse, the sun flashing through with a haze of mist between the trees. He makes music that at times sounds both simplistic and sinister in equal measure. It occasionally causes you to glance over your shoulder, and sometimes fills the heart with joy as well as menace. The Smitten King Laments is the follow up to 2006’s The Filth and the Wonder Of”¦, the mini-album that started with the charmingly named (you better ask you mum to leave the room) 'Cunts Pricks Wankers And Shits' (you can tell your mum to come back in now). Things are a lot less sweary here (the first album caused the NME to name him “Jeff Buckley with tourettes”), and is full of some great songs, with a minimalist approach which sounds more akin to the likes of Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker (opening track 'An Unhappy Fish' really bringing to mind 'No Regrets') and Pedro the Lion than Buckley Jnr. The music is given space to breath with skilful lyrics adding much flavour.  Highlights include the positively cheerful 'Low Blood Sugar', softly patted drums and a sparkling piano setting a backdrop to his vocal. 'Finish My Book' is faster, and more direct with a Bunnymen vibe. The longer songs work less well ('The Golem v The Gentile Giant' in particular), but tracks like 'Snipes' and 'Devastating Sky' are much more on the money, interesting without being overly quirky. This is music for late nights and down turns in mood, the darker side of music without drowning in melancholy. 74%Links Simon Breed [official site] [myspace]