Magik Markers' 2007 LP Boss was one of the greatest career left-turns of recent years.

The band, famed for their intense live performances which consisted of half hour freeform noise compositions and usually ended with erstwhile frontwoman Elisa Ambrogio assaulting her guitar, had released an album of songs. Admittedly they were hardly radio-friendly unit shifters, but there were tempos! Rhythms! Discernable melodies! There was even a heartfelt piano ballad on there, for God's sake.

It would be difficult for the band to do anything quite as drastic on Balf Quarry, a name that invokes a mild feeling of disgust, for some reason. So, whilst they don't do anything quite as unexpectedly mainstream as 'Empty Bottles', the band do stick within the general pattern laid out in Boss: experiment with the forms and textures of rock music whilst staying ostensibly within its borders. Thus we have guitars, drums and regular length songs, but also feedback, atonal guitar lines and loose structures. Got that? It's basically the Sonic Youth formula, as has been done many times to great success.

Alas, Balf Quarry does not follow this formula to any great success, which is disappointing given how well they combined the avant-garde and the accessible on Boss. The main problem with the album is that it's frustratingly inconsistent, and often seems to be running out of good ideas.

It's doubly a shame because the first three tracks are genuinely excellent. 'Risperdal' is a wonderfully bratty opener, with fuzzy, squealing guitars and Ambrogio's haunting, echoey voice blending to make a filthy slice of noise-pop joy. 'Don't Talk In Your Sleep' continues in this style, albeit in a slower, more menacing fashion. 'Jerks' is a possible highlight from the first half of the album; a short, faster number in the vein of 'Body Rot' off Boss, with screeching lead guitar lines that bring to mind The Velvet Underground at their most avant-garde.

This opening trio really is impressive, and it gives the impression that Balf Quarry will be a proper dirty, garage-rock influenced ROCK album, kinda like the last Liars album. Sadly, this is not the case, as things get decidedly more hit-and-miss from then on. It's especially annoying given that the hits are about as good as the first three tracks, but are lost in unsuccessful ambient/noise experiments. On the "hits" side 'The Lighter Side of... Hippies', presumably named after a MAD Magazine strip for whatever reason, is a frantic, angry track that has the band working to their strengths, and is probably the strongest track on the second half of the album. It's just unfortunate that it is sandwiched inbetween the the near-unlistenable free guitar wankery that is 'The Ricercar of Dr Clara Haber' and the somewhat unfocused 'Ohio R./Live/Hoosier' (yes, the song titles are a bit rubbish too).

It's when the band get more experimental that the weakest tracks show up, though. The spoken word sections on 'Psychosomatic' feel completely unnecessary, and the almost Cabaret-esque 'State Numbers' is a decent idea, poorly executed, that drags on for far too long. However, the biggest waste of an idea is the album closer 'Shells'. Its lengthy runtime and atmospheric, organ-based opening suggests that Magik Markers have made something truly epic but again the track doesn't seem to really do anything much of interest over the course of its eleven minutes. It's a real waste of a potentially amazing final track. It's irritating, because one of the songs, '7/23', proves that the band can do stuff outside their comfort zone and have it sound good. With its mechanical, clunky percussion and delicate organ part it sounds like a more avant-garde Beach House and it shows an interesting direction that MM could head toward, if they really tried.

Another significant problem with the album is the production. Without the warmer, fuller tones that Lee Ranaldo brought to Boss, the album often sounds a little too thin and anaemic. It also lacks a good deal of bassier tones in places, as might be expected, considering the band no longer have a bassist. Even the best tracks on Balf Quarry suffer from sounding a little too cold.

Boss was a brilliant step in the long history of experimental-yet-accessible rock albums, and while Balf Quarry could never be as unexpected a move, it really is quite disappointing. If the four or five best tracks were released as an EP, then it would be a much more well-rounded release, that would've flowed a lot better. As it is, Magik Markers sound like they're having trouble straddling the fence between art and rock and thus have produced a pretty limp follow-up.