Musical brothers are not known for getting along. Remember the epic battles between Oasis's Noel and Liam Gallagher? For that matter, it seems like almost every time families get involved together musically, shit gets fucked up. The Jackson Five were notoriously rumoured to share their sexual partners, and are thought to have been abused by their father, Joe Jackson. Also, speaking of parental abuse, how about the Shaggs? Those talentless (but utterly entertaining) Wiggins sisters were forced to leave school by their father to make a record. And don't even get me started on the Osmonds.

But what to think about California's Moore Brothers? Strangely, these siblings lack any juicy gossip ... and even if there was any, it would take nothing short of bestiality charges to overshadow their latest release, the sparsely beautiful Murdered By the Moore Broothers.

The Moore Brothers are clearly influenced by 1960s folk music; a muted sadness reminiscent of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" drifts through tracks such as "Old Friend of Mine," and the more upbeat tracks, like "I Sing Today," are reminiscent of songs by an equally sunny Cat Stevens - which is to say, Cat Stevens when he's not remembering his bout with tuberculosis.

Also thrilling for any fan of older pop music are the traces of Big Star which float throughout the album (if you're young, I guess we could say Elliott Smith, but shame on you if you're reading the Modern Pea Pod and have not yet listened to at least #1 Record). But despite the pleasant rainy day music references, there is a haunting otherness to this record that refuses to be referenced as simply a modern reinterpretation of the '60s pop-folk canon.

Sparse album opener "Wish You'd Say," for example, with its single perpetual note over plinking piano, can both infuriate the listener and yet keep her hooked at the same time. The lyrics are gorgeous, wistful thoughts on wanting a lover who wants you back, but at the same time, the claustophobia of the instrumentation is a reminder that love is not an all-encompassing landscape, but a silent silver box held between two people. Another key example of Murdered By the Moore Brothers' oddness is "At Terror."

This deceptively cheerful song bends the use of the word "terror," so that the listener cannot tell whether perhaps the town in which the narrator is searching for a woman is known as "Terror," or if the murderer implicated in the album's title is the narrator; maybe he is searching for this woman to murder her, but will only do so when she is completely consumed by terror of him. And then there's "Star of Confusion," which curiously ends while the Moore Brothers are still singing.