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This lot are from Australia, so the Crowded House influence is strong, but there's also a bit of Coldplay knocking around. The most noticeable, and maybe off-putting, association here though is the singer sounding uncannily like Sting. Now I don't mind the odd track by the man who's never described as modest, and I was quite a Police fan in their early days, but there's no denying this soundalike factor, and it's very real effect on one's enjoyment. The songs have a melodic and a convincing contemporary Brit-sophistication that's unusual, especially on releases from this record label. There's even a bit of Radiohead, especially in the inventive and varied Regretfulness pt.1, and these adjectives apply pretty well to the disc as a whole. Quality control levels are high here - nothing leaps out and grabs one in the throat region, granted, but there's a lot going on and much to enjoy and allow to grow on you. (Actually, as I'm sitting listening to this, Regretfulness pt. 2 (a haunting conversation) is a truly lovely thing, an undoubted standout, one of only two tracks here with the word 'regretfulness' in the title, and enough of a throat-grabber to almost make that last sentence there a stinking lie, almost.) It's all growing on me. Try it, you won't regret it.


www.laughingoutlaw.com

Jeff Cotton
November 2002

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