'Masculine, Feminine,' released in the UK through Shellshock in January as well, can be described as battered, inebriate and sensual as well as defiantly and unfashionably romantic - the first three months of a new love affair or seven years in jail for a crime of passion.

The Music Lovers are led by transplanted English songwriter Matthew Edwards on lead vocals and guitar. Edwards is accompanied by Jon Brooder (bass, harmonica), Bryan Cain (guitar, backing vocals), Kate Weeks (viola, percussion, keyboards), Ping Chu (drums), and on occasion, Jun Kurihara (vocals, accordion, piano.)

Their third album on Le Grand Magistery, 'Masculine Feminine' marks the pinnacle of the band's artistic endeavours. Edwards refers to the album as his own personal 'Day of the Locust,' a travelogue through the underbelly of the almost-famous doyens of LA and San Francisco. Like a toxic Graham Greene on a tear, Edwards speaks of motels, love affairs, addictions, vamps and ingénues, pausing on occasion to look back on a half-remembered England and wonder what went wrong (or right)? These are desperate songs born of need and frustration, but never dreary or self-pitying. Rather, they show a formidable spirit of abandon to the pop aesthetic, saddling the darkest sensibilities and most wicked proclivities to the sweetest pop-song frame-works.