The Dissociatives: The Dissociatives

Reviewed by REBECCA BARRY

(Herald rating: * * *)

Silverchair might be easier to pronounce but on his dreamy collaboration with Paul Mac - the guy who remixed their song Freak and added noises to Neon Ballroom - Daniel Johns has abandoned the heavy guitars of his band for challenging pop.

The duo sound as though they've immersed themselves in Supergrass, Regurgitator and Sgt Peppers-era Beatles but there are a few too many colours for the tunes to really stick.

First single Somewhere Down the Barrel sounds like Mac has taken to A Day in the Life with weird electronic quirks, the creepy choir on Horror with Eyeballs suggests it's better suited to a Baz Luhrmann film than radio, and there's something vaguely unsettling about the sunny whistling on Lifting the Veil from the Braille.

This was never going to be a straight pop album and there are times when you yearn for Johns to break out of his low-key, dusky vocal into something a little meatier.

But it's still an inventive, strange and a more rewarding listen than most of the schmaltz out there.

Label: Virgin