Cuthbert and the Night Walkers - Mr Pickwick's Camera

Sydney seven-piece Cuthbert and the Night Walkers come bounding along armed with trumpets, cowbells and goodness knows what else for their second album of effervescent, plinky-plonky indie. Strangely though, for a band whose live shows are all fun, movement and noise - like a scaled down Polyphonic Spree - the gentler songs are actually the album’s highlights. Walk to Work is stripped-back and beautiful, as lead-singer Richie Cuthbert tells a downbeat love story over sparse piano and, later, pretty melodica. Similarly, album-closer Negatives is sorrowful and touching. “I can’t bring myself to kiss you goodnight in front of your friends,” Cuthbert sings. He may not be the most natural vocalist in the world - at times he is a little whiny - but his voice is certainly varied and the way he jabs at words in some of the more upbeat songs is kinda jaunty. Consistently adorable though, are the female backing vocals, which are as arresting and delicious as those of The Magic Numbers, and there are some great boy/girl duets, like the Spanish-tinged and theatrical Wonderland.

The inclusion of the album’s more sombre tracks reigns things in from becoming overtly kooky and act to counterbalance the likes of High Horse, which treads a precarious path between being catchy and quite annoying. However, for the most part the hectic multi-instrumentalism and harmonies are great. Importantly, Cuthbert and The Night Walkers’ quirkiness always comes across as perfectly natural, and not in the slightest bit contrived, which is why this band is so very likeable.