Space Kitchen's debut is such a fun album. But I can only take it seriously under one condition

Within a couple of minutes of pressing play on Space Kitchen's debut, I was already grinning.

I could hear it all there: Great songwriting. Catchy melodies. Fun arrangements. And quite impressive musicianship, too.

But not long after, I started feeling something else, a nagging feeling that it all sounds familiar. Almost as if I've heard it all before.

I began recognizing the harmonies. The vocal lines. The arrangements... And soon, my enjoyment of the music shifted to guessing who did that first.

Like that harmony of the opening track, The Arrival. It's hard not to hear pure 60s psychodelia in the melodies, but the harmony is pure Fab Four around Revolver or Sgt. Pepper's.

The vocal line in the next track, Moving Picture is something Geddy Lee would have sung. In fairness to the band, the track turns 180 degrees in the second part, but even then, I can clearly hear echoes of other artists' styles.

Sun Tower is a great prog track. And if they told me that Tony Banks helped compose it and played keyboards, I'd believe them.

Another track is all late Moody Blues, another one is all Tom Petty, and so the album goes.

It's fun at first listen, I won't deny it. But it does lose its charm as the album goes on. There's only so many times you can guess who the track reminds you of, after all.

But there is something else, too. And this is why I cannot criticise this album.

You see, I suspect that all that I've noticed about Space Kitchen's debut might be intentional.

I am only guessing, of course, but I noticed that the duo (Space Kitchen is Rob Howell & Robbie Carvalho) do not seem to be taking themselves too seriously.

The cartoon characters they use to depict themselves. The sci-fi imagery of the album and preceding EPs. Even their introduction on Bandcamp feels like a little wink to the audience:

Space Kitchen is what happens when you modernize the 1970s rock band mentality with the artistic freedom of modern DIY possibility.

And that makes me think that Space Kitchen's debut is not a record we, listeners, should approach expecting a grand musical statement.

No. I think we just need to focus on listening to two friends having a great time making music, and that is enough.

And if that's the case, then I am very happy with this record, and I am happy to recommend it, too.