Following on from their 1997 "return from the wilderness" album "Strung Behind the Sun", the Green Pajamas return with arguably their strongest album to date in "All Clues Lead to Meagan's Bed". If it wasn't already self-evident from earlier releases, there should be no doubt after this one that Jeff Kelly is the finest practitioner of the mid-period Beatles influenced psychedelic pop song around today. 12 of the 15 songs on "All Clues Lead to Meagan's Bed" are his, characterised by heart-stopping melodies, swirling harmonies, and sinewy guitar lines.

Mere replication of the codes of the psychedelic era is not the point here, though. Kelly has a poet's soul, and the songs are a potent medium for lyrical expression. There is no innocence here, the concerns are as often dark and ambiguous as they are elevated and joyous. On the flip side of delirious, celebratory treats like "The Secret of Her Smile" and "Queen of Sunshine" you'll find tales of obsession, psychic disturbance, madness and addiction like "Death By Poisoning", "Rattlesnake Kiss" and "The Laughing Horseman".

This dialectic is underlined by some extraordinary and unexpected musical delights. The folk-rock lyricism of "Dear Jane" (characteristically about the Brontes) is shattered by a chorus of atonal blasts of guitar noise and distorted vocals - a direct product of Kelly listening to King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" just prior to recording of the track. Joe Ross's "Pastel Summer" throws the whole bag of "I Am the Walrus" jiggery-pokery into a collapsing star with the aid of the most remarkable descending chord sequence we can ever remember hearing. And the glowing mysticism of "Morning in Myra's Room" rises in the East like a pole star, eyes focussed inwards as infinity wheels around it, a drone symphony of guitars, keys, sitar and tabla, and yet another signifier of quiet greatness.