Skallander is the duo of Bevan Smith and Matthew Mitchell, both from New Zealand. Bevan Smith is probably better known under the Signer moniker under which he released two albums on Carpark Records. Actually, the Signer project always struck me as being incredibly bland adding absolutely nothing to the existing canon of indietronica. Skallander leaves out the electronic elements and presents itself as a fully fledged pop band.

Their self-titled third album contains some fairly nice songs, but as a whole like both Signer albums it is nothing special and lacks depth. There are some definite similarities to the trilogy of albums by Jim O?Rourke on Drag City records, albeit Skallander being less expansive. But while O?Rourke?s songs are always deeply touching, the tunes contained on ?Skallander? are nothing more than just ?nice?. And in addition, Matthew Mitchell?s voice is not that great. On the positive side, ?Skallander? is certainly pleasant to listen to. But far from being memorable. 6/10 -- Stephan Bauer (10 October, 2007)