'70 Suns in the Sky' confirme les vertues naissantes attachées au mini album 'Sunset'. Si la démarche de Mary Goes Round demeure fermement coincée entre Sad Lovers and Giant et Modern English, son 'Touching Pop' a atteint la maturité idéale, plénitude propice à l'exploration de nouvelles perspectives musicales. Sur ce 30cm, MGR navigue au sein d'un psychédélisme pastel et ponctue ce voyage d'une superbe cover de 'Nile Song' du Floyd. '70 Suns in the Sky' irradie de ses milles et une notes de guitare limpides, effervescentes, un paysage sonore tourmenté par la basse féline, galvanisé par une boite à rythmes pénétrante et arrosé de claviers soyeux, délicats... '70 Suns in the Sky', grâce et passion, juste au-delà de l'horizon, outre Quiévrain ... et Mary Goes Round.

New Rose-offshot label Lively Art say there's a 'Touching Pop' movement in France; true or false, the term does accuratly sums up Mary Goes Round and their debut album. The duo mine the unswayingly melancholic guitar/base, synth and vocal arrangements of the Cure and Joy Division, albeit with more of a poppy sheen that recalls the early New Romantics live B-Movie. Maybe they do this too faithfully, but definitely with panache.

This is a very depressing album, emotional, I want to die when I hear it, not that it is a bad album it just gets to boring at times, sort of like the quieter songs that Jesus And Mary Chain would do. I was very surprised to hear this band was a duo and come from Paris. They even do a cover of Pink Floyd's 'the Nile Song'. Having never heard the original I cannot compare them, this is a record I play in the background while reading as it relaxes me, the more I play it the better it gets makes a nice change from all the noisy stuff I play day in day out (7/10).

Hey, it's not all Roxette on t'other side of the Channel, y'know. And while the French partnership of Jerome and Cecile may suggest rocky Swedish images, 'Highway Planet' is a giddy affair fuelled by fairground keyboards and crap Peter Sellers accents. Typically Continental (ie offbeat, peculiar) perspective of English indie music, the overall bonkersness is sealed by 'Shut Up And Die''s bersek outburst about shitting and coming on graves. Miles better than Zuchero, any day of the week.

Mary Goes Round are French and like the Cure. They probably spend hours gazing into misted mirrors, staring at their spots, pondering wistfully the meaning of life, Dostoyevsky, and wondering whether the girl next door really is in love with that brute she hangs out with. They own records by long-forgotten misery combos like Crispy Ambulance, Modern English, Minny Pops, and rue the day New Order ever stopped playing that atmospheric majesty Oxfam suit stuff. Just like the rest of us, in fact!.
Yes, there's no doubting the lasting appeal of Miserable Bastards In Rock and Mary Goes Round's debut is a moody and mystical blighter that just reeks of Simon Gallup basslines, Eldritch interviews and that Long Mac Feeling. That said, it boasts as fine a grasp of the art of pop as any French singer has since 'Ca Plane Pour Moi'.
Songs like 'Mary's Garden' and 'Useless Days' (title!) are full of swirling keyboards, forelock-tugging riffs and ominous drum sounds, while 'Any Mary I See' is The Cure of 'Pornography' days, but hell, they sound good enough.
There's nothing here that hasn't been heard before, but plenty to please those of us still in awe of Smith's 'Primary'.