Album of the month: 4 stars

Fiona Shepherd finds a collection of earworms, heartbreakers, oddities and sublime pop (plus plenty of bonus extras) in an 80-track box set revisiting Mull Historical Society’s first three albums

At the turn of the millennium, Colin MacIntyre set sail musically from his native Mull, arriving seemingly fully formed on our airwaves as the impishly named Mull Historical Society. His debut single, ‘Barcode Bypass’, struck an instantaneous chord with its heartbreaking story of a local shopkeeper throwing in the towel in the face of competition from the town superstore. It was unique subject matter for a pop song, yet a timeless, resonant and prescient round of applause for local heroes over global corporations.

This box set, gathering together the first three MHS albums and contemporary recorded ephemera, is named Archaeology, in part because of the excavation job required in pulling together 80 tracks from MacIntyre’s purple patch in the early Noughties but also as another respectful nod to the original Mull Historical Society who gamely changed their name to the Mull Historical & Archaeology Society in deference to their better-known musical namesake.

MacIntyre has since diversified into writing memoir and fiction, and is set to bring his two artistic loves together on the next MHS album, to be recorded back in Tobermory this year, with contributions from his favourite authors. However, Archaeology represents a period of time when the tunes flowed effortlessly, from the euphoric chime of ‘Watching Xanadu’ to the freewheeling 60s-influenced psych pop of the song ‘Mull Historical Society’.

Like any good storyteller, MacIntyre returns to beloved themes, creates ancillary characters, and ties together plotlines through his music. ‘The Supermarket Strikes Back’ is the right of reply to ‘Barcode Bypass’, while ‘MHS Lady’ is the tale of a sweet, supportive encounter with a woman ‘from the real Mull Historical Society’. Debut album Loss is a snapshot of MacIntyre’s grief at the death of his father, the respected journalist Kenny MacIntyre, culminating in the choral incantation, brass fanfare, and shipping forecast of the title track. A mixed bag of extra tracks yields the lovely ‘Rocket Man’referencing ‘You And Me Ground Zero’.

As its title suggests, follow-up Us radiates a sense of community. With less of a need to grab attention, its highlights include the straight-up songwriting of beseeching ballad ‘Don’t Take Your Love Away From Me’, while ‘Minister For Genetics & Insurance MP’ and ‘Citizen Fame’ play to MacIntyre’s quirkier proclivities.

Third album This Is Hope, released in 2004, represents a new label and fresh ambition, producing another indie-pop earworm in ‘How ’bout I Love You More’, chamber-pop heartbreaker ‘Treescavenger’, the jaunty strut of ‘Tobermory Zoo’, and ‘Death Of A Scientist’, a shifting multi-part waltz about the suicide of David Kelly.

The fourth CD throws up the usual interesting mix of odds and sods, including a few examples of post-Britpop mulch. But there’s also the tender melancholia of ‘Don’t Suffer’, a campfire paean to Mull’s Calgary Bay (MacIntyre’s favourite haunt) and a brass-soaked bells-andwhistles transformation of The Strokes’ ‘Last Nite’, all wrapped up with a 36-page booklet of articles, live shots, tour memorabilia, and an extract from MacIntyre’s forthcoming memoir The Boy In The Bubble

Archaeology: Complete Recordings 2000–2004 is released by Demon Records on Friday 24 February.