Fiel Garvie

"Leave Me Out of This" (Album, 2003)

Foundling

In some ways this reminds of the shambling bands from the early Creation years with the odd bit of shadowy, snare banging Jesus and Mary Chain poking through the gloom. With 11 tracks coming in at just 45 minutes, this collection of open and heartfelt musical poems are certainly short and sweet. Yet, for the majority, my patience gives up two thirds the way through and I feel compelled to skip to the next song in the hope that what follows has greater depth and structure. You could drop in on any of these on the radio and curiosity would have you keen to hear them out. But if you did more than once you'd be appreciating this more than I.

The female vocals are okay, pleasant enough but just a tad too introverted and one-dimensional to compel. The right musical components for their chosen genre are all here: floppy bass lines, lightweight percussion, some nice string sounds and cleanly picked lead guitar melodies, but the spark of originality never quite ignites. For what it sets out to be it achieves up to a point, yet I get the niggling sense that there's more talent than the songs on Leave Me Out of This present us with. 6/10

Rob Dyer (February 2006)