Two years after their Jesus and Mary Chain homage (the aptly named Distortion) Stephin Merritt and co return with its partner album, Realism. Pursuing the pleasingly literal logic that meant "distortion" equalled plenty of haze and reverb, the musical parameters for "realism" equate to a ban on electronic instruments. There's plenty of daftness – more welcome on the campy "Seduced and Abandoned" than on the baffling "The Dolls' Tea Party" - but "Better Things" in particular marks a return to Merritt's inimitable balance of doleful and droll that earnt 1999's 69 Love Songs such adulation.