Brad Rose (aka The North Sea) is probably the last person you’d expect to see at the helm of a pop album. A folk record – maybe, a noise record – sure, but pop? Probably not. Yet that’s exactly what he and his wife Eden Hemming have done with “Mechanical Gardens”. The Altar Eagle sound might not come as much of a shock for those cassette collectors who have managed to source copies of the duo’s now rare debut EPs, but for the rest of the world it should serve as a radical change in direction for one of experimental music’s most valuable sons.

The ear-splitting noise that enticed listeners on “Bloodlines” is all but forgotten as Brad and Eden pick through shimmering dream-pop and cold-wave electronics with the greatest of ease. The quality is assured within minutes of the gorgeous Slowdive-esque opener “Battlegrounds”. Anchored by Eden’s humming, ethereal vocal tones, the song is a glorious statement of intent and while the band go into clubbier directions on the second half, this song is a gateway to their sound.

Possibly the biggest surprise on “Mechanical Gardens” is the sound shift which occurs mid-way through the record, as the bubbling bliss of “B’nai B’rith Girls” gives way to the abrasive electro growl of “Monsters”. Influenced in part by Eden’s long-time love affair with techno and Brad’s recent obsession with synthesizers, the duo strike a perfect middle ground between crumbling experimentation and pop excess. This is rarely better explored than on “Spy Movie”, a track that somehow combines the supposedly warring sounds of Juan Atkins and early My Bloody Valentine.