Hellabuster

Nick McCarthy, Bavarian brains of Franz, last dipped into side-project Box Codax five years ago, and in that time, the contents have got a whole lot more exciting. Less rigid and robotic, much cleaner than ‘Only An Orchard Away’, ‘Hellabuster’ moves on from post-punk weirdo pop to a glammier, proggier form of ELO-ish studio oddness.

It’s part-produced by Joe Mount of Metronomy, whose sonic fingerprints are audible on the brilliantly freaky disco of ‘Seven Silvers’ and the likes of ‘My Room’. If ‘Choco Pudding’ dips its spoon too far into the bowl marked ‘wacky’, the whole is an eccentric gem that pulls you back again and again.

NME Review