Saint Dirt Elementary School — Ice Cream Man Dream

Saint Dirt Elementary School may have created the creepiest opening sequence in CD history.

Ice Cream Man Dream fades in with, somewhat predictably, ice cream truck chimes, and they're accompanied by a honking noise that sounds like a clown's nose being squeezed. These may seem like harmless sounds on their own, but there's something very unsettling about the way they've been combined here.

The eeriness does step aside after the first few tracks and things more or less settle into jazzy easy-listening. The material onthe instrumental Ice Cream Man Dream was scripted by Toronto's Myk Freedman, but he brought a nine-piece band along to fluff things up. At some moments, Saint Dirt Elementary School are reminiscent of Jim O'Rourke. At others, they're akin to The Hylozoists.

On the whole, Ice Cream Man Dream sounds like it would fit well in the '80s — when cassettes with instrumental versions of popular songs were ubiquitous. It's enjoyable for the kitsch factor, if nothing else.

By the end of the disc, you'll find yourself feeling that it dragged on about five songs longer than it should have. This music is definitely well-suited to a lounge or live performance, but probably won't be that enjoyable at home.