Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 31/03/08
Label: A&M/Polydor

Truly, there is nothing less real than reality TV. And despite the best intentions of Channel 4's "Mobile Act Unsigned" to use the TV talent show format to discover a genuine, credible, "write their own songs" talent, the result, Envy & Other Sins, are about as realistic a pop proposition as Michelle McManus. Just as the record buying public are never wrong, TV voters usually are and with debut single, "Highness", having charted at number 65, Envy & Other Sins are already finding out that votes and sales are not the same thing.

What should concern A&M Records, who provided their record deal prize, is that "Highness" - a jaunty Razorlight meets The Kooks piece of quintessentially English indie-pop - is the catchiest, most charming and commercial track on "We Leave At Dawn". Clearly the ever suspicious record buying public have failed to buy into the eccentric-Victorian-gents-with-guitars shtick that viewers found so appealing, and if "Highness" couldn't persuade them otherwise, nothing else here will.

It doesn't take a genius to spot that a band who list Isambard Kingdom Brunel, damsels in distress and steam power among their influences are probably trying too hard. For Envy & Other Sins that excess effort, more often than not, results in a musical vision seemingly based on The Kinks, Blur and Dick Van Dyke's accent in "Mary Poppins". The indie equivalent of a waistcoat and neckerchief, the likes of "Man Bites God" shuffle along with a cheery wink, "Almost Certainly Elsewhere" is a 'Boys Own' adventure full of drawing rooms and loot and "Step Across" is Hard-Fi in a smoking jacket.

"The Company We Keep" and "Talk To Strangers" prove that cheeky chappie clichés can't get in the way of a good song but "(It Gets Harder To Be A) Martyr" is a teeth-grindingly jolly knees-up too far. Take away the badly tuned pub joanna, sepia-toned melodies and lyrics about cavorting dandies, and what's left here is a mundane collection of B-list Britpop straight from the Menswear songbook. Modern classics they're not, and in lieu of clear stand-outs, the band's quirkiness quickly goes from quaint window dressing to irritation to the point where even the good songs sound like caricatures.

Plucky underdogs and unlikely outsiders are what the viewing public like best. For better, or for worse, in Envy & Other Sins that's exactly what they've got. Sadly commercial appeal doesn't really come into the voting. Just ask Michelle McManus.

    by Dan Gennoe