Lucky to get a sneak preview of The Marseille Figs’ latest EP “Jumbo”, as my pre-order CD won’t be around for another week, though you can already buy downloads, and it is likely to feature on very heavy rotation on my MP3 to liven up my commutes.

Where Dirty Canon got in turns maudlin and snarly with the fantastic “Don’t fall asleep at the wheel” and “Caesar’s Revenge”, this is a firmly up-tempo shot to perk up the grotty autumn. The (even) fuller production this time brings in dozens of the talented trio’s unusual instrument choices, making them sound like they’ve turned into a sprawling Negresses Vertes style mega-combo. Given this treatment “My Latest Mistake” becomes even knees-uppier, and new songs “Bad bad baby”, “The Human Tragedy” and even drink-damage ballad “The Long Goodbye” swing along, juxtaposing nicely with the little barbs in the narratives. “Jumbo” well deserves top billing though, a huge theme for a movie I’d certainly love to see, even if I’ve no idea what it might be all about.

And not content with being an internationally fêted movie auteur (hem), I’ve now become a virtual session musician, in that the closing bars of the title track feature the buzz of an old white Stylophone that I long ago gave up trying to learn to play (if that’s indeed what you do with them), and which has since found its way to someone vastly more qualified to use it.

Get your own dose of Jumbo from all good record stores (and I imagine a number of bad ones), including some handy links from the Figs.