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How I Learned To Write Backwards follows up the chiming guitars and indelible melodies of The Aislers Set's The Last Match in stunning fashion. Brimming with drunken romanticism, sharp pop sensibilities and timeless melodies, this Aislers album offers eleven new musical proofs of the power of classic tunes. Helmed by writer/player/producer extraordinaire Amy Linton, The Aislers Set revels in the history of great pop, spiking their classicist, '60s-tinged tunes with the pure post-punk energy and originality of bands like The Fire Engines and The June Brides. Every song is a meticulously constructed sound world, where the arrangement and instrumentation sublimely, uncannily bring each tune to completeness.

Ranging from the baroque '60s pop of opener "Catherine Says" to the up-tempo C86-flavored indie-pop of "Languor In The Balcony" to the '79-style punk of "The Train #2" and the late-night loneliness of "Unfinished Paintings," How I Learned To Write Backwards expertly winds together so many strands of pop history with such personality, atmosphere and style that there's never any doubt that you're listening to a band with vision. Far from being a "name the reference" game, The Aislers use the past as inspiration rather than a blueprint, so the echoes you might hear of, say, Phil Spector's wall of sound or Laura Nyro's soulful lyricism are so well integrated that they're more akin to the spice in the stew rather than the stock of the soup.

The undisputed greatness of The Aislers Set has won them a rabid following, and they count as fans and tour-mates such diverse groups as Belle & Sebastian, Black Dice, The Gossip and Sleater-Kinney. Excellent press has come from all corners of media-land, from The Village Voice and Spin to Chickfactor and Big Takeover. They were very well received on their UK and Swedish tours last spring, and their session for the BBC's John Peel has been aired several times due to popular demand. Where The Last Match succeeded on all levels, How I Learned To Write Backwards is even stronger and looks set to reach even more people, more ears, more places.