The Photocopies

Sean Turner and The Photocopies' fourth album, 'Counterintuition', is a fitting title for an artist who promotes his releases with a touch of the unexpected.

Deliberately embracing the growing trend of anti-marketing strategies, he does not isolate Counterintuition from other releases. Instead, it competes with Bandcamp Fridays' 14 million other offerings, alongside the usual flurry of EPs and albums that he tends to release in the days preceding his album launches. However, when the music is this good, it naturally finds its way into the hearts, minds, and ears of his extremely loyal fanbase.

The opener, "Date Night At The Supermarket", along with "Lightning Strikes" and "Bye Bye Boyfriend", showcases the core sound of Counterintuition. This album features fuzzy, whirring pop driven by a wall of guitars, creating a unique sense of melody through layers of varied aural textures. The tracks resonate with a blend of glorious 60s retro-schmaltz and the 80s indie-pop aesthetic that elevated acts like the Television Personalities to cult status.

When such frenetic sound is somewhat diluted, "Headspinning (All I Want)" and "Looking For The Upside" embody the essence of 90s indie-pop, leaning towards the more muscular end of the Hefner catalogue. Meanwhile, "Expendable Human Capital", "The World Doesn't Understand", "Land's End", and "The Age of Unenlightenment" introduce jangled riffs that Turner expertly weaves into the fabric of his fuzz-pop sound.

'Counterintuition' once again highlights the sheer brilliance of this consistently remarkable act.