Belles of the Bucket is the second album from the now Aberdeen-based Terminal Buildings. Where A Binful of Bells (review here) leaned into the softer side of ’60s psych, Belles of the Bucket is the more straight-ahead of the two—though with this project, “straight-ahead” still means wonderfully unusual. Expect lo-fi power pop wizardry that’s slightly dissonant and off-kilter, yet tender, gentle, and deeply likable.

And while A Binful of Bells sprawled over 19 tracks that drifted in and out of focus, Belles of the Bucket is a leaner, sharper affair: just seven proper songs, bookended by two instrumentals as opener and closer. Most of those songs waste no time either. Take Big Hat, for example, a burst of guitar pop bliss that makes its case in under 90 seconds—a confident move if ever there was one.

The 4-minute Papier Mâché is the outlier, a patient and dreamy track with a Belle & Sebastian shimmer. Almost knowingly, it’s followed by That Wheel, a lo-fi rocker straight out of the Guided By Voices playbook.

Hats off to Terminal Buildings for dropping not one but two of the summer’s most interesting releases.

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