In accordance with nature, and everything in-between, Austerlitz are self-proclaimed purveyors of asymmetrical rock - playing songs that are also in-between - neither in 3/4 nor 4/4 time. In any other quarter this might be called math rock - or at the very least progressive rock. But, even the band's own self-summation may be a little misleading - sure there's a proliferation of prog stylings but I also hear a lot of 4/4 on this record too. Which is no bad thing. Songs such as 'Stand By' and 'Happy Song?' are amongst their most poppy and rhythmically conventional. And when the band do make their forays into the experimental it's with a commercial, pop sensibility that makes you forget that the beats are being toyed with at all.

The big prog influences are present here: 'Walking Into The Fire' has a clean and pristine Yes-like quality to it while 'Seattle Town' has a 1980s Rush-like synthy sound. But the band are far from copyists and have their own clear identity which is exemplified by listening to 'Away' with its meditative low-key vocals.

This French duo of Gil Charvet and Nicolas Robache share most things on this record but with Gil taking the vocals and the drums and Robache sticking with the keyboards. They do a good job - just the two of them together. You could quite easily see this duo following in the fortunes of their fellow countrymen - Air - as this rock band easily transition into electronica at times. The most obvious example being 'Stay In Line' but there is also an underpinning on the previous track 'Stand By' too.

The Austerlitz sound is pretty varied which is natural for a band with no particular instrument allegiance. If a track needs little guitar they're quite comfortable not putting much in. So the songs are able to be themselves and go where they want to go. That doesn't mean that there is a complete absence of guitars on this album - far from it. 'No Sir' exhibits a nice collection of dissonant guitar notes over a cool melodic vocal - quite Posies sounding - and elsewhere, 'Yes But With You' has a quirky angularity about it that is reminiscent of Adrian Belew. Austerlitz's musical pendulum swings from 'Walking Into The Fire'  - which is a keyboard and bass dominant melodic pop song  - to the playful and intermittently self-censored garage rock of 'Rotten Ears'.

Austerlitz have quite a few strings to their bow and I can see them in the future, like Air, playing and experimenting further with the music that they produce - judging from this album this duo seem to revel in it.

http://www.myspace.com/austerlitzrock