So I’m having my first listen to II – the new (as yet unreleased) Unknown Mortal Orchestra album. (You can pre-order here). The band is touring New Zealand in early January – and the album is released just after the shows. So it’s fair to assume that a fair bit of II will be played live. I loved the show last time UMO played here and now there’s a new drummer, a new member to a trio means a new band – to a degree; a new sound.

I’m just a few songs in – and I love the feel of this. It’s going to be a good show. Kudos to the record-label peeps for actually sending out advance-copies, they were once the staple but now they’re rarer than a really great album.

Reviewers need advance copies to try to stay on top of things. Whether we need reviewers or not is a different story obviously, but I’m grateful to have this album to take on holiday with me….I’ll report back – with a full review – nearer the time of the shows and the record’s release.

I am certain we do need Unknown Mortal Orchestra. And I have a feeling plenty of people are going to love II. Here’s a sample track.