When Michael Johnson finally brought together a stable full-band lineup for his heretofore solo project
Reclinerland, the singer/songwriter celebrated by changing the band name.
What Was She Doing on the Shore That Night? is really a
Reclinerland album under any other name, however, although it's considerably more fully realized in terms of its arrangements. From the opening title track, which sounds a bit like
Belle & Sebastian at their most resolutely downbeat, the album skips from Anglophile style to style: the plainspoken cybersex love song "The Perfect Love" has a snarky '70s R&B feel that sounds like
Edwyn Collins fronting
the Divine Comedy, while the gloriously ironic "Break Into Song" has the symphonic sweep and bubblegummy melody of a classic
Petula Clark side and "Danny Built His House All Spiral," among others, recalls the great jangly guitar U.K. indie bands of the post-
Smiths '80s. Johnson's songs are unfailingly melodic, with prolix and often quite funny lyrics, but he rarely comes across as just another clever git. Fans of
the Monochrome Set or
John Southworth's quite similar take on sunshiny chamber pop will undoubtedly scarf this right up. ~ Stewart Mason