Album Review: Spanish Dance Troupe by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci

Think of a sedate Paul Simon tune, add some Beatles rhythm, a few assorted warbles, and an intermittent rough edge, and you'll have Spanish Dance Troupe, the latest album from Welsh band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. Or at least you'll have a bit of it. An eclectic selection of folk-pop, the tunes on Spanish Dance Troupe range from the upbeat and lyrically amusing to the laid-back and entirely instrumental.

Gorky's sound will feel familiar to those versed in the acoustic folk-inspired pop ballads of the late '60s and early '70s, with only a slight instrumental and tonal twist betraying the band's Welsh origin. A few of the band's songs have a classical folk ballad for flavor, while others exploit dissonance or vaguely new-age rhythms to add variety to what otherwise could be a monotonously mellow album.

But only a few of the songs in Spanish Dance Troupe fully realize Gorky's lyrical potential. The album valiantly attempts to present a varied array of sounds. But only a few of the elements in the collection, most notably "Poodle Rockin', stand alone as exemplars of vibrant variations on Gorky's basic style. B