Hailing from the Orkney Islands, Half Cousin have made the kind of record that befits a band detached from familiar civilisation. They are not a million miles from Scotland's Dawn Of The Replicants in both distance and their musical approach which owes as much to folk music as it does to the experimentalism of Beck. Satisfyingly Half Cousin are more interesting the stranger they sound. 'Half Turn', 'Single Boy' and 'The Diary Fire' contain wickedly subversive melodies; partly influenced by electronica and hip-hop but also exuding the bar-room clatter of a young Tom Waits. It's a little disappointing that the mid-section of the album meanders aimlessly in terms of tunes even though it maintains a strong narrative of the characters portrayed in 'The Function Room'. Yet however far from the finished article they may be, the sense of invention and out-there approach to their best work suggests a great second album is well within reach.