Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 12/06/06
Label: RCA

Even with everyone now claiming to have been 'discovered' on the internet, the story of latest overnight-online-success, Sandi Thom, is still pretty fantastic. Too broke to gig, the ingenious Scot went on a 21-date virtual tour, broadcast live from her South London basement. By the 'tour''s end she'd played to 70,000 people and signed a five album deal with RCA. Fairytale stuff; too good to be true, some have cynically said.

Indeed, as her debut single, a cappella stomp "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker", sped to number one, national newspapers were claiming that viewing figures had been exaggerated and Thom's organic online phenomenon was the product of evil record company spin doctoring. Dastardly plot or not, Thom's origins made little odds to the eventual outcome. Those who rushed to purchase "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker", did so not because they thought Thom was cool, maverick or a new DIY hero - she's none of those - but because they were seduced by a cunningly perfect piece of pop. Too perfect, some might cynically say.

As an exercise in songwriting - if songwriting is about putting lyrics the whole world can sing in peace and harmony with jaunty acoustic guitars and the kind of anthemic pop choruses America was built on - "Smile…It Confuses People" is similarly faultless. Every song comes preloaded with an unmissable hook, endearing melody and wide-eyed idealism which only a real humbug would chide. So why is it that, as an album, it feels so completely unconvincing?

While on a one-to-one basis the likes of wistful swayer "Sunset Borderline" and acoustic rock'n'roll hand-clapper "Horse Power" offer harmless sing-along fun, en masse, the overall feeling is of being imprisoned in one long Coke advert. Like "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker" with its "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" idealism, it's the soundtrack for an antiseptic, homogenised world. All inoffensive and unnervingly impersonal. At no point does Thom sound like she's singing from the heart, just trying to reach the widest possible demographic.

What compounds the nagging sense of being built to order, is that between the KT Tunstall-esque guitar thumping, Joss Stone-a-like soul and Jem-style dreaminess, she's covered all current female singer-songwriter bases. It's as if she's set out to create the ultimate female sensation, complete with this year's must have accessory: internet born credibility.

Not that any of this is will go against her. Those most likely to pop a copy of the album in their basket in Asda won't care a stuff if she's the genuine article or a savvy girl writing feel-good corporate rock for the American market. As the twin sunshine joys of "What If I'm Right?" and "Little Remedy" belt breezily by, they'll be too busy thinking she's a good singer who knows how to write a catchy song. And they'll be right.

    by Dan Gennoe