Imitation Electric Piano

As a follow-up to his debut EP as Imitation Electric Piano, Simon Johns, better known as the bass player for Stereolab, delivers a sweet and soothing easy listening album. Combining Johns’ warm bass lines with driving rhythms, melodic keyboards, soft vocals and jazzy arrangements, Trinity Neon manages to land somewhere between the music of Stereolab and the Sea and Cake. However, IEP’s trump card is a sense of levity, breaking out of the sombre chin-scratching mode with giddy tracks like "Theme for an Imitation Electric Piano” or on some unapologetically prog moments on "Don’t Tell Me I’m Wrong (But You Are).” Smooth grooves and calming melodies are the order of the day but at times like these, chilling out need not be so serious.