Mistle Thrush - Super Refraction (1997)

Super Refraction managed the neat trick of combining several different
strands of indie pop and other music in one place. "Stupid Song" itself is
a lovely purée -- Todd Demma's drums suggest post-Madchester baggy funk,
Valerie Forgione's singing calls to mind early Cranberries without the
stridency and more sly cool, the cascading guitars are neo-psych/shoegaze
mania, the quieter parts of the arrangement are a touch Portishead-tinged.
That may all sound like a recipe for disaster for some groups, but in the
hands of the quintet it becomes a rich vein to draw on, and more often than
not tunes like "Train Song" come up trumps as flat-out winners. If
anything, Super Refraction almost suggests an alternate path for
alternative rock if the Nirvana breakthrough hadn't happened -- no brutal
grunge and plenty of spirited dabbling, helped very well by Kurt Ralske's
fine co-production with the