I realise I'm a bit late to this particular party, partly because while I might be listening repeatedly to something, I don't always feel I've got the audacity to write about it. Indeed it's unusual that I cover two releases by an artist in quick succession - because I figure that anyone who reads this with any regularity will probably get pretty bored with my enthusiasm rather quickly! However, this album has bucked the trend somewhat - partly because it's so impossible to pin down on a quick listen or two, and certainly because it's often so different to the EP I recently wrote about. To recap on the basic premise - King Post Kitsch is Charlie Ward, a producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter of not inconsiderable talent. Oddly, given the man's day job there is a conscious effort not to over-produce the music on this album - songs are left to fuzz out into sudden and inconclusive endings, and the hisses and crackles of real instruments and snatches of studio conversation fill the few moments of silence here. Wrapped in a cover which could be grisly urban reportage, or might just be someone searching for a lost pound coin - this varied and intriguing debut is just as hard to pin down at first.

After the opening stomp through "Portland St. Pt.2" and the fuzzy anthem which fronted the recent "Don't Touch My Fucking Honeytone" EP have been despatched, "The Werewolf Hop" starts with a sinister near-whisper before evolving into a swaggering, cranky horror film soundtrack, and ends with cheeky stabs of organ and loping, simian bass playing. In between it's joyous and fairly absurd at times, but it's also huge fun to listen to - and likely for the artist to play too. Buried somewhere in here is the manifesto for the entire record - "I don't need a reason/it just makes me happy" - which signals the inclusion of such a bewildering array of influences and reference points that recording them here would be futile. People tend to recommend that I listen to things they perceive as 'folky sounding stuff' which has always amused me given the breadth of my tastes and my allergy to a fair amount of folk music, but oddly it was this route that initially led me to King Post Kitsch. It took me a little while to figure out some of the earlier work I heard because it didn't fit the description at all, but here the more introspective, acoustic side of Charlie's output is reflected too - not least in "The New Gang" which is indeed gentle, glockenspiel propelled folk with nimble guitar picking and high, dreamy vocals. Also in this vein is the next single from the record "Fante's Last Stand", which is delicate and fragile - initially a world away from the fuzzy, scuzzy depths that King Post Kitsch sink to elsewhere on the album - but even this succumbs to a glorious squall of noise and filth towards the end.

There are probably never going to be enough songs about urban paranoia, but "Walking on Eggshells" is going to be a contender for one of the finest. An air of carefree, swinging 1960's London permeates the song with it's "ba-ba-ba" chorus and joyously heavy-handed Dave Clarke Five drumming. But the sinister lyric is buried in such unashamed guitar pop that it's not immediately evident quite how tense the mood of the song becomes. Perhaps to temper this edge there is room for some sparkly, nervy indie pop next in the form of "You Talk Too Much". It's chugging guitars and soaring choruses could be regarded as fairly conservative by the rest of the album's standards, but even this manages to surprise and confound, with a garage band guitar solo tucked somewhere inside just to keep us on our toes. The whole track bursts with enough enthusiasm and drive to fill an entire album of a lesser artist's material. Surprisingly quickly, things draw to a close with the melancholy organ throb of "Closing Time" which seems to be a tale of the last moments of drinking-up time in a bar - and somewhere here I begin to realise just how many ideas have been road-tested in this fairly concise album, and just how many of them have landed pretty much as intended. That's no mean feat at all.

King Post Kitsch had a life before being snapped up by Song, By Toad Records and that is reflected here in a number of tracks which have appeared on download-only EP releases previously. However, despite the patchwork of styles and tempos and the stitching together of new with older material, this forms a remarkably coherent and hugely satisfying album. The high points for me occur when King Post Kitsch heads full tilt into a fuzz of noise which hides a nugget of neatly concealed pop joy. There are countless moments like this - and for that reason alone this album is a compelling listen.

You can get hold of "The Party's Over" on CD from Song, By Toad, or as a digital download from iTunes or Amazon.

King Post Kitsch - You Talk Too Much

Today started with a long wait in the sunshine at the station. The First Great Western Class 57 diagram has performed poorly this week, with cancellations and replacement with units on several occasions. This morning it was once again cancelled, but the gen was that with 57304 out of service a GBRf 66 would substitute. Finally, later in the day 66721 produced, in Metronet livery, and worked the remainder of the diagram.

I plotted furiously, but already leaving early to travel north for tomorrow's tour meant no hope of getting anywhere near the diagram. Sent the gen to others in the hope it would be useful, and settled for a hasty and poor quality snap before I caught my Voyager.

These trains will soon be things of history, and lets hope this isn't the last time they produce something interesting.

Another bewilderingly busy week, and another hastily arranged trip. In these kind of circumstances when I have no idea where to go and need to make a decision quickly, the lure of new track is often the easy option. So, continuing my bid to visit lines in Lancashire and Merseyside, I decided to head under the Mersey today and onto the Wirral. My profound fear of escalators has always prevented me from exploring the underground sections of the Merseyrail network, but recent visits have given me confidence in other ways of getting back to the surface at most of the stations!

A slight change to the routine this morning, running with 2M02 all the way to Bristol Temple Meads as 1S42 doesn't operate it's Weston stop in the Summer Timetable. Arrived on time and found the 07:28 waiting at Platform 3. Boarded, found my favourite seat and before we'd got to Parkway I'd managed to harass the RSM to sell me breakfast, despite him not really being quite open for service yet! An uneventful cruise through the Midlands and a rather busy New Street station, with Crewe the first port of call for me.

I know that for non-enthusiasts, Crewe is the ultimate joke at the trainspotter's expense. Why go to a rather tired, gloomy Cheshire town if not for the trains? Even though it is in many ways a shadow of its former self, Crewe continues to be an interesting spot. Today, it was the pleasant surprise of wandering up platform 11 awaiting the Pendolino to Liverpool, and finding the Duchess of Sutherland waiting for her train to arrive. Soon enough the coaches rolled in behind 47826 Springburn - another celebrity as far as I'm concerned!

No time to linger for further pictures as the Liverpool train, now on platform 6, crept in quietly beside us. Despite some of the Pendolinos in the Midlands being dragged by Class 57s today, we were unassisted. Found a nice seat next to the aircon in the quiet coach. Unfortunately found myself seating next to some irritating Liverpudlian revellers on their way back from London who were clearly still under the influence of something. Mildly amused by their weirdly self-obsessed behaviour at first, but soon tired of it. Last saw them wobbling around the concourse at Lime Street mumbling that everything was "mad" and wondering "what's going on 'ere like?". I wonder if they made it home - one of them was planning to 'borrow' a van I think!

It was stiflingly hot under the glass roof at Lime Street, and incredibly busy. Lime Street is up there on my list of 'real railway stations' where I could happily spend hours just watching people. No time today however, because the lift to the Wirral Line was out of action, which meant a swift walk to Central Station if I wanted to keep to my schedule. The city was heaving with people, and I notice the highlight of the entertainment seemed to be the chance to make rude gestures at yourself on the huge video screen in the centre, usually reserved for rolling news or sports events! Rebooked and descended into the thankfully cool tunnels under the city to await the train to New Brighton - the tiny seaside resort which sits at the northern tip of the penninsula. Once through the cavernous James Street station, we were in the long tunnel section which passes under the Mersey and deep into Birkenhead. Most of the stations have a strangely time-warped feel - with lots of brown plastic moulding. Tried to fathom out the junctions at Hamilton Square without a map and got confused. Soon enough we were out in the sunshine again, and passing the Merseyrail depot at Birkenhead North where a fair number of the Class 507 and 508 units were stabled. Arrived at the tiny seaside terminus and sorted out onward tickets. Briefly lured out of the station by the inviting aroma of a small cafe near by. Struck by the sleepy air to the streets around the station. Having played with the timetable, realised I could do the trip slighly more quickly and get back to Lime Street in time to shop for a Father's Day present, so decided to head back out on the next service.

Next destination was West Kirby - which meant retracing my steps to Birkenhead North. Over the rather decayed footbridge in blazing sunshine and only a couple of minutes wait for the next service. West Kirby seemed from my brief visit like an interesting little town - a small station with a sizeable concourse surrounded by shops, and a town centre immediately outside with some interesting Victorian buildings. No time to explore however, as the plan was to complete the final missing link on the Merseyrail network this side of the river. It's many years since I travelled on the line from Chester to Port Sunlight in order to explore the fascinating village. I recall wondering at the long, straight railway stretching into the distance above the rooftops of the village. Today's visit was short - after plunging back into the tunnels at Hamilton Square, changed and headed south through Birkenhead Central. Spotted the telltale architecture of Port Sunlight village after leaving Bebington, and wished I had more time to explore. Instead, only time to mark off the track and book a ticket back to Liverpool before the 1309 service from Chester appeared from the haze. This service would take me back under the Mersey, and around the deep-level loop line to Liverpool Central. Noted the odd arrangement at James Street, where the inbound platform is in a 'tube' separate to the imposing older station I passed through on the outward journey. Made a note to find some sort of history of the railways around here.

After wrestling my way into a packed lift and upsetting some pushchair-wielding mothers, made for Lime Street through a heaving city centre. The station was still baking hot, so having done the necessary shopping retired onto the already waiting 1438 to Birmingham a good few minutes early - just to take advantage of the air-conditioning. A quick and smooth ride back on the semi-fast Central Citylink service, using one of the neat Class 350 Desiro units. A slight air of chaos at New Street however, with lots of platform swapping and delays. Noted the 1642 Bristol service getting later and disappearing from it's platform - and I'm sure a fair number of passengers intending to catch it went unwittingly to Cardiff Central! My own choice of service, the 1712 Plymouth was unsurprisingly delayed behind the Bristol - all down to 'congestion at Sheffield' we were told. Once finally underway, we made fairly good progress in making up our 20 minute delay until Gloucester. We waited for some time at Barnwood Junction before giving up and passing an apparently stranded empty engineer's train which was blocking the junction. Made a very unusual reversing move at Gloucester Yard Junction, meaning we kept to our booked stopping pattern but increased our delay. Slightly concerned on arrival at Temple Meads to see the 1915 HST leaving ahead of us, but relieved to see it looped for us to pass at Bedminster. A swift same-platform change at Weston and home, only a few minutes later than planned.

A fairly swift, whistle-stop kind of day, but interesting nonetheless. Must get back to Port Sunlight soon for a longer wander around the village.

Launched The George Gissing Discussion List on the Victoria List. Some nice positive repsonses are encouraging, and people are slowly beginning to sign up. Need to lead by example with an introductory post. This page needs pruning, very badly. Swamped in work, but off to Dublin for the day tomorrow.