Not many albums that cross my path open with a blast of didgeridoo. Maybe I’m just not listening to the right music, but most songs I usually listen to feature nothing more exciting than a string quartet or, if you’re very lucky, a warm trombone. So I should perhaps be grateful to Just to Annoy Ray for broadening my instrumental horizons. True they’ve only broadened my instrumental horizons as far as the letter D is concerned (the album also features a dulcimer and a djembe), but it’s a start. It’s a Shame Poor old Ray, whoever he is, seems to have had a bad time of it. First The Lemonheads thought it was "A Shame about Ray" and now this band have devoted themselves and their name to annoying him. One day we’ll have an album or a band called "Isn’t Ray Lovely and Fluffy" but until that time, we’ll have to make do with the more negative options. The unusual instruments are not there just for the sake of it. They all serve a valuable purpose. This is most notable in the opening track "Love Unoriginally". The aforementioned didgeridoo blast makes way for the repetitive minimalism of a dulcimer’s refrain that plays over and over throughout the song with an hypnotic effect. The result is an atmospheric soundscape of a song devoted to themes of love, regret and renewal. Quite beautiful. Angry Young Women It’s a bit of a different track to the rest of the songs on the album. While the chorus of "Love Unoriginally" may contain the lyric "I’m in love", most other lyrics on the album contain feelings of animosity (the second song’s title) and betrayal. "Signs", the third song opens with a line of "blind, if it wasn’t for hindsight". If the feelings of betrayal are not aimed at just one person, they are aimed at many. "How are you supposed to have ambitions when you need bits of paper to get anywhere?" rails vocalist Sian Chandler on "Stepping Outside". (Don’t) Stand by your Man The final track, "Soap Scum", is a blues-y swaggering song that takes no prisoners: "If you’re feeling alone then get a teddy bear and write a letter home to mum" runs a lyric by a tired woman fed up of a pathetic boyfriend. The final lyrics are spat out with venom. It’s a tirade of complaints about a man who needs a short sharp kick up the rear end: "I loved you like a brother/the one is just another/and it’s time for me to close the door." Influential Despite the range of styles employed here (blues, Celtic themes, traditional rock), Just to Annoy Ray have managed to maintain a style and sound that can accommodate the differing influences they explore. It’s an exciting sound to listen to that could easily go much further. Poor Ray must be quaking in his boots. | 
