My New Band Believe

At first blush, Cameron Picton’s first album as My New Band Believe is a million miles away from the chaotic, shape-shifting prog rock he formerly made as a part of disbanded British indie phenoms black midi. The project’s self-titled debut is elegantly draped with sumptuous strings, acoustic reveries and shards of plucky harpsichord. But Picton’s capacity to surprise the listener at every turn—check out the tumbling drums that barrel through the final moments of “In the Blink of an Eye”, or the kaleidoscopic Andy Partridge-isms stretched across the eight-minute-plus “Actress”—picks up where his former band left off in terms of embracing a try-anything-once attitude. The frequent gestures towards British folk and sweater-weather indie pop are also reminiscent of Picton’s peers in Black Country, New Road; fittingly, several members of that band as well as UK indie-rock collective caroline contribute to <i>My New Band Believe</i>’s jittery, pastoral sprawl.