We are forever being told not to judge a book by its cover (though not by publishing houses and their design and marketing teams, obviously, who say quite the opposite: judge it and buy it because of its cover!). So no doubt most of us hear a voice in our head telling us not to judge an album by its sleeve or title too. These elements create expectations all the same and in the case of Verde (‘Green’), the fourth release from Portuguese guitarist Francisco Pais, they might be of something rather monochromatic and single-toned. And inevitably – I just said don't judge a book by its cover, etc, didn't I? – what's inside is quite different from those expectations, with Pais and his crew restlessly ranging across a broad musical palette, mixing stylistic colours with voracious abandon: a bit indie on ‘Where Is The Edge?’, the opening bluesy slide guitar stylings of ‘Lookit’ reminiscent of Let It Bleed-era Rolling Stones, ‘Devotion’ invoking the spirit of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, ‘Yeahaa-Do’ coming on all drum'n'bass… When Pais opens his mouth to sing on a handful of tracks late in the running order, he sounds a bit like Jason Lytle from Grandaddy or Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips. It's all delightfully unpredictable, delivered with admirable rocked-up intent.