Proving that Mogwai aren’t humourless post-rock bores, frontman Stuart Braithwaite has teamed up with Aidan from Arab Strap and a multi-instrumentalist called “Sheepy” for this EP, the first release from Scottish independent label Lost Dog Recordings.

The Sick Anchors (nice name) have here recorded “Fashionable Facsimilies Of Familiar Melodies”, Atomic Kitten’s “Whole Again”, The Fall’s “Bill Is Dead” (dedicated to John Peel), and The Mills Brothers classic “You Always Hurt The One You Love”. The most interesting track being, inevitably, “Whole Again”. Here The Sick Anchors prove, rather infuriatingly, that, stripped of the cheesy bland boy/girl band production and sung with emotion (albeit tongue in cheek), Atomic Kitten’s number one is a damm good song, Moffat once again playing the spurned alcoholic lover, and Braithwaite’s guitar in the chorus is heart-wrenching .

Apparently, if the artists involved find time, there may be an albums worth of Sick Anchors covers, which would fill in the gap between the next Mogwai and Arab Strap releases nicely. And if you get bored you can always tell younger relatives that the rambling Scot singing “Whole Again” did in fact write the song.