From the earliest recordings here, collected mostly from demos and unreleased material, John Maus sets out a clear personal style – one which found full refinement in last year’s We Must Be The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves. These songs add nothing particularly new for anyone familiar with Maus’s aesthetic, just expanding on the tightly-wound, classically-arranged lo-fi pop he’s made his name with. Though ‘Mental Breakdown’ and ‘My Hatred Is Magnificent’ are strong, ‘I Don’t Eat Humans’ is the one that stands out. One for completists.
