The Sexy Accident: Mantoloking

To say that music should have no monetary value is a little silly. After all, release a pirate copy of an album people are supposed to pay for, people flock.

Release an album free-of-charge, people give it the wide-birth of a sneezing Mexican.

They can't all be bad though, right? Well, time for another test case: meet The Sexy Accident. Now download this album by heading to their music download page.

Now read along.

We're somewhere in the territory between Teenage Fanclub and Mull Historical Society here with a greater onus on those "driving rhythms" so beloved of press departments.

Front-man Jesse Kates throws an impressive amount of gusto at the vocals. Hearing his voice strain, run dry of air and gasp for breath between and during notes adds a huge amount of energy and humanity to what could have been a typically lifeless performance.

Retro stylings may place them beyond the focus of the typically narrow-sighted indie-kids, but it's very much their loss. Although we must take time to rue the somewhat sagging nature of the mid-section of Mantoloking, we'd still consider it a home-run/six/whatever sports analogy you wish to use.

First song on the album "I Tried Again" scores major points for never losing its momentum throughout a giant swing of a chorus and the cleverly structured guitar riffs. Taking the baton from that song, "I Just Need My Car" quickly solidifies The Sexy Accident as a band adept at those trickiest of rock conceits: melodies. The background vocals feel exactly as if they emanate from the back of the room, rather than the right side of the mix.

"Buy Me Out" may be a little too pub-rock at its initiation, but the sweeping bass-line soon takes us back to the land of the epic rock band. The rather audacious use of counter-pointed vocals at the end really does warm the heart as well.

Seven-point-five minute opus "All Surface" is anything but and "Merry Christmas To You" brings a Coral vibe to a downbeat Christmas anthem.

We'd not recommend that the band start building an awards shelf just yet, but this is one we'd likely hold as being worth its price at HMV, that it's completely free-of-charge makes it an essential download.