The Ants Go Marching is an upbeat if slightly one-dimensional affair; bass-heavy pub rock at heart, with twists of jazz, punk and early-90s MTV funk sprinkled liberally to keep things interesting. Think a mixture of Suicidal Tendencies and Green Jellÿ - they of "Three Little Pigs" fame - but without the all-star cameo line-up, and without the hilarious lyrics.

Though, Sam Kekovich and his famous Aussie lamb advertisements do make a brief but wonderfully unexpected appearance in "Sheep Amongst The Wolves", bringing a bit of levity along with them.

Lead vocalist James Fox has an effortlessly tough, gruff voice; a little bit Lemmy, a little bit Tex Perkins and a little bit Nick Cave. His laconically laid-back singing is what gives the music its pub rock feel, warping the listener all the way back to a beer-soaked inner-city pub circa 1991, when smoking was still allowed.

There's very little in the way of acrobatic vocal range, and the atmosphere the record conjures is certainly clearer because of it. Sargent Sapphire are probably great live; I can just imagine all the local drunks getting up and dancing themselves towards vertigo as soon as Fox and bandmates put down their beers and have a bash.

What gives the album its spunk, so to speak, is the seemingly random dalliances into the strange. Little bursts of 60s jazz, bass solo breakdowns, Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies, whistling, these small but noticeable distractions make the album fun to listen to the first time around, but don't hold up quite as well to multiple listens.

As Jack Dyer used to describe mid-tier VFL footballers, this EP is full of "good, ordinary" songs. Immensely enjoyable while you're listening to it, but nothing to really rope you into multiple listens. It's definitely worth a go, though, regardless of what kind of music you normally listen to, because it's probably unlike anything you've heard before.

That is, of course, if you can get past such a glaring mistake in the band's spelling of their own name. Honestly, it almost made me pass over this record entirely, but I'm glad I gave it a go.

You can hear half the songs from the record at Sargent Sapphire's MySpace profile at www.myspace.com/sargentsapphire.