'The latest release from the excellent Whimsical label comes from Keith Harbottle's Big Life Desire and, as the label's name suggests, it's another helping of twee pop - the kind to make fans of Belle and Sebastian and The Wedding Present salivate. 'Your Love Is' and 'She's Got It All' bop along smiling as they go, the former's 'analog keyboard hook' quite rightfully credited on the sleeve, while the surprising funk on 'In Pieces' comes across like an evening with the Blockheads. Certainly one for you to check out.' RB culturedeluxe.com 'This is Big Life Desire's debut single and its definitely a slice of fresh English pop, written and sung by Keith Harbottle. The track is reminiscent of a mix of Blur and Paul McCartney and a hint of classical. There are real live instruments including guitar, drums and percussion which make it real pop. Although he's a new artist to the industry he's been gigging for a long time and that experience shows in his music.' Rashmi Shastri ukmusic.com 'This is skewed English pop music that takes its cues from the lo-fi eccentricity of Baby Bird and White Town, the sideways funk of Ian Dury, not to mention the odd aside to bands as varied as Blur, The Kinks and The Beatles ... LOVE IS ALL is a jaunty pop tune with pretty keyboard riffs and hummable if dour vocals from singer/songwriter Keith Harbottle, the results landing somewhere between a downbeat Belle And Sebastian and John Shuttleworth. SHE'S GOT IT ALL shuffles along in similar directions, a chirpy piano underpinning affairs whilst IN PIECES emerges as the standout song on offer, a relaxed funk backdrop drawing comparisons to Ian Dury and Harbottle's vocals sounding at their most enjoyable and naturalistic.' Mike Bond, UK Music Search ukmusicsearch.co.uk We like Whimsical records. They have a postcode only one digit away from mine and have an unquenchable thirst for melody. And so it is with Keith Harbottle who has wisely moved away from his Goon like real name to trade as Big Life Desire, a name setting himself up for a fall. He's also not a very good singer, choosing to enunciate in tune instead, but it just fits with his oddly affecting pop music. There's no normal reason why this should be good - it just is. And that's one of the beauties of music. It's not supposed to make sense. One for the Robert Wyatt / Kevin Coyne fans out there, methinks. zeitgeist-scot.co.uk more reviews join mailing list