(Part two in my no doubt never-ending series entitled "Bands I Have Fallen In Love With But Who I Desperately Want To Record Something In A Proper Studio, or, The Natalie Portman In K-Mart Phenomenon". Nuff said.)

London, England
Now, I can't stand reviews that consist purely of listing soundalike contemporaries, but in some cases you get an image in your head... LAW's music reminds me of a dream I think I must have had once of a lagered-up Oh No! Oh My! chasing a pixelated Supergrass around the inside of Schroeder's toy piano from "Peanuts".

This London three-piece create blanket-wrapped synth pop that's a curious mix of the tongue-in-cheek and the heart-on-sleeve. "I Couldn't Get It Up", with all its impassioned wails of despair, sounds like Art Brut guest writing a bonus track for The Trials of Van Occupanther on an ancient Casio. (I thought it was hilarious. I know people who won't.) "Broken Record Heart", on the other hand, is the candy-coloured, playground-sad flipside of the Postal Service's ethereal, grown-up resignation.

The schizophrenic and addictive self-titled record was cut in the lead singer's bedroom in May of this year; it's fuzzy (although it's hard to guess how much distortion the band would deliberately transfer into a studio recording), fun, mostly sweet and reassuring, a little sad, and occasionally a tiny bit dark, like your old collection of soft toys that makes you all wistful about being little, but then there's those couple of menacing-looking teddy bears your scary aunt made you, obviously working from the Tim Burton Guide To Needlecraft...
But here's the best bit: The album is, most delightfully, available in its entirely for exactly zero dosh on their MySpace. Their philosophy is encapsulated in a quote taken straight from their blog there: "No money involved, just free beautiful music." Head over and go wild.
And don't take it too seriously. Some wanker from Pitchfork will do that for you in a few months' time.

LAW - I Couldn't Get It Up.mp3
LAW - Broken Record Heart.mp3
MySpace (check their already impressive following...)