By way of Dublin and Copenhagen, The Unusual History of Ether has their Irish connection through singer Rebecca Collins. Collins met jazz guitarist Mikkel Ploug at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2007 and in a musical sense, hit it off. However it wasn’t until 2011 that they managed to find the time to fully collaborate. Now based in Copenhagen, ‘A Distant Age’ is their debut album. Listeners on this isle were first alerted to The Unusual History of Ether from the ‘Part One’ EP which was well received across the blogosphere in 2012.

This pan European meeting of minds has resulted in a veritable melting pot of styles; it’s simultaneously funky, tumultuous, manic and dipped in a vat of pop hooks. Pin pointing any single reference point is difficult given but imagine Nina Persson fronting The Wannadies and you get some sort of idea about what to expect.

Collins comes from a singer songwriter background and that’s clearly apparent on a gentle folk song like Just Dust. But this is much more than the work of one person and the collaboration first shows what they are capable of on Like Gold. It’s a slinky snaking, tune with a suitably seductive vocal performance from Collins backed with a tight rhythm section.

Where things really perk up your interest is across the trio of Crazy Elk, A Guide To Providing Affection and Stop Talking where the melodies are consistently strong to stick with you for months. They are brilliantly produced simple pop songs with unexpected tempo changes and sweet as sugar harmonies.

Not everything hits the mark. Creature and Geronimo Fever neither comes across as off-putting or enticing to be listened to again and end as inconsequential as the jokes in Christmas crackers. Overall, this is a solid release which has built upon the ‘Part One’ EP and is worth investing time to get to know.