I don’t know if you are capable of listing five indie bands named after episodes of the cult TV-show Monkey, but Monkey Swallows the Universe will probably be one of them. I don’t think there was an episode about Monkey going to the Arctic and it would have been shit anyway. MSTU are from Sheffield, UK, which means that they probably went to school with Jarvis Cocker and the guy from Babybird. Actually, that’s pretty unlikely. The band members are only young (first year university students in 2000—so about 24, right?) and Sheffield is a big town.

The songs on MTSU’s debut album, The Bright Carvings, are centred on the rich alto voice of Nat Johnson. She sounds like Beth Orton every now and then, or even a bit like Sophie Ellis Bextor when she used to be in lower-tier Brit-popsters The Audience. Neither of those reference points is particularly cool, but then just remember that MSTU are obscure, from Sheffield and have a myspace account—you’d still be cool for liking them if they sounded like Leo Sayer.

In Johnson’s support, the band (acoustic guitars, cello, violin, drums) bash out some catchy pop tunes with a joyful lo-fi sloppiness. The album was reportedly recorded in four days flat and a listen gives no reason to doubt it. There’s another British band that used to write songs like these, full of childish glee and mellow instrumentation. But they’ve learnt to play their instruments properly and swagger like they’re Marc Bolan nowadays, so I won’t bother mentioning them.

First off the rank is “Sheffield Shanty” in which Johnson takes us through her hometown after heavy rain, apparently, sailing her house through the watery streets. It’s mournful, wistful, and playful all at once, carried by a lightly plucked guitar line. There’s a xylophone, some pretty slide-guitar work and the lyrics use phrases like “gammy leg”—I don’t think even Colin Meloy has used that one yet.

That xylophone pops up again on “22,” another mellow pop ditty with a crescendo-and-speed-up-into-the-chorus. The formula really isn’t that different to “Shanty,” but once again it’s the voice and the melody that saves the day. A lot of sensitive acoustic groups seem to forget that these things make a big difference.

A slightly darker track is the very Orton-sounding “Wallow” in which rapid strumming drives a minor-key melody. The instrumentation is pared back to the band’s two-piece origins with only voice and acoustic guitar. It works remarkably well.

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