This is slightly in advance, as reviews go, but that is because Song, by Toad is currently in receipt of its first ever (thank you Amy, you always remember your first time!) pre-release promo copy. The Tough Love lads have promised me ones for Honeytrap and The Sequins, but Amy May of Paris Motel was the first to get hers through the letterbox at Toad Hall and for that I shall always think of this album with special affection.

Right, as loyal, some would say worshipfully devoted, readers you naturally all remember what I had to say about their brilliant EP, 071, which I absolutely love. Well this record doesn’t quite match the drifting variety of that one – it’s longer, of course, so that would be impossible – but it has the same lush qualities.

If I had to describe In The Salpetriere it would be thus: disturbing dreamscapes for malevolent fairytales. After comparing her to Sarah Blackwood from Dubstar in my last review, I have discovered that Amy May hears that all the time, so let me clear up the comparison: their voices are really similar, the music is really not at all. This is more along the lines of a less obviously disjointed Lewis Carroll. In Through the Looking Glass you always knew that something odd was going on, but not here. Here you hear lovely fairytales in song form, but something in the tone is slightly disturbing and you slowly come to suspect that all is not quite right.

There are some slightly bland songs, but most of this is absolutely fantastic. The intro and outro, so often a throwaway for a band, are both fantastic: luscious, creepy and beautiful. They are like the sleeping draught that overcomes a mythical prince: he is being lulled to sleep but all the time he is sure that something is going slightly wrong.

It’s not Tim Burton, this, it’s the Disney film that is being overtaken by Tim Burton characters so subtly you never even see it coming. It reminds me a little of Vermillion Kisses by Barry Adamson actually, a song I am almost certain you won’t have heard, but one that displays an equal flair for the subtly disturbing undercurrent, albeit without the consistently amazing orchestration.

The album’s out on the 2nd July; buy and love, Toadlings, buy and love. There’s a tour too – see website – this music must be ace live.

Barry Adamson – Vermillion Kisses
Paris Motel – Three Steps
Paris Motel – My Demeter

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