Cato Salsa Experience No.3

Herald rating: * * * *

There's something endearing about seeing these lily-white, Speedo-wearing Norwegians on the cover of their new album. At least you know they're not taking themselves too seriously.

On opener, Burn A Hole In the Night, they sound like a bunch of rowdy munters, then suddenly, restoring their dignity, they jam like Stevie Wonder doing Superstition.

Cato Salsa are many things.

The breezy It's Gonna Be Easy is psychedelic pop (think Kinks/Beach Boys) coming out of a garage in the 60s, but the best thing is how fresh it sounds because of the unbridled, free-and-easy way they jam these suckers out.

And there's a trippy haze (like on the frisky Keep On Running) rocking things along too.

Cato Salsa are less stylised than fellow Scandinavians the Hives, and on tracks like Milk For Revolution and What A Day That Was it's cock rock meets the soul of an American blues country band (like their mates the Black Keys).

The bonus live tracks, including covers of MC5's Kick Out the Jams and Led Zep's The Song Remains The Same, reveal even more about the lads' influences.

It's nothing all that new, but yehaha, wooh.

Label: Inertia