Walpurgis Family - Live Your Life Around It album review: less melancholy, more merriment

The third album from this Dublin four-piece is lyrically eclectic, to say the least. Songs range thematically from references to Tolstoy and Don Quixote to straightforward relationship break-ups. Heck, there's even one about a "panda surgeon who loses his professional licence". What's not to like?

Very little, in fact. Most of these 10 tracks ramble endearingly into unexpected places, be it the feel-good, toe-tappy instrumental of The Old Buffoon, the rambunctious, psychedelic indie-pop of The Magic Wheel, or the sombre swoon of Micronesia. Meanwhile, the skewed, winsome bounce of Anatole recalls 1980s US college rock at its lo-fi finest.

Live Your Life Around It's balance is tipped more in favour of merriment than melancholy, and there is an indefinable charm to these songs. facebook.com/walpurgisfamily