Album: The Rakes

By far the best thing about this second album from The Rakes is the track title "World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect", which seems to sum up the band's attitude perfectly. As on 2005's Capture/Release, there's an undertow of sardonic cynicism about their worldview which stains their material with an unappealing post-modern sneer, whether they're offering an Arctic Monkey-esque account of an edgy night in "World Was A Mess...", or taking routine sideswipes at Hoxton trendies in "Leave The City And Come Home". Save for the occasional dancefloor respite, there's little attractive about the lifestyle sketched out in these 10 songs, in which all emotions seem treated like imposters, accorded the same casual disdain even when "all the secrets are choking on your heart, tearing all the life from the stars". Given the band's punchy but bland modern-indie sound, much of the blame must be laid at the door of singer Alan Donohoe, whose muttered delivery languishes in the limbo between nonchalant and ineffectual, as if thoroughly bored with his own small tales of dreary modern life. As well he might.

DOWNLOAD THIS: 'We Danced Together', 'World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect'