The second album from the Magic Numbers, Those the Brokes, finds this hirsute UK foursome--comprised of two brother/sister pairs, Michele and Romeo Stodart with Angela and Sean Gannon--expanding on the florid, harmonic pop vision showcased on their Mercury Music Prize-nominated 2005 debut. Importantly, it doesn't just mimic that album's most obvious tricks--or, indeed, the tricks of their forefathers (The Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas). Indeed, these 13 tracks often find the Magic Numbers eschewing straightforward breezy sing-alongs for more complex outings that boast a more nuanced understanding of shade and space, or hide firm, beating hearts underneath their diaphanous pop exteriors. Oh, OK, the opening "This Is a Song" prances along at a fleet-footed tempo, all lilting, interlocking voices and tumbling guitars. But "Take a Chance" comes on like a candy-flavoured Sonic Youth, breathy harmonies hiding choppy guitar crunch, while "Undecided"--a mid-album delight that sees Angela take the microphone for a bruised, bluesy paean to breaking up and making up--boasts the sort of vintage soul muscle that few, to date, have given the Magic Numbers credit for. Time to reconsider. --Louis Pattison

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