Bands: Built To Spill/ Marine Research

Singles: By The Way/Sick And Wrong

(K)

Split seven-inch with two mutually besotted acts covering each other's tunes. Marine Research (who used to be Heavenly, and are now simply divine) dust off Built To Spill track 'Sick And Wrong' and whip it into razor-sharp, indie-pop shape, removing all ver Spill's trademark deliciously bellicose guitar frills in favour of abrasive guitar pop.

Doug Martsch and his boys similarly take on old Heavenly hit, 'By The Way', and trawl several shades of pathos from its bare, limber bones, Martsch's plaintive falsetto vocals sensitively tracing each lyric as the band apply their liquid quasi-prog formula and beef the tune up into one of their typically epic slabs of emotive rock alchemy. Just how is it that Martsch can so regularly conjure up moments like this, which teeter dangerously on the line between pop and pomposity, but expertly remain moving and down to earth? Punchier than any of the tracks of BTS' sumptuous 'Keep It Like A Secret' album, this is one definitely worth seeking out.