Fenech-Soler - Fenech-Soler (2010)

One word to describe Fenech-Soler’s self-titled? Forgettable.

The four piece electropop group from Northamptonshire generated a fair bit of hype with their early release, “The Cult Of Romance”. After being signed, an album and accompanying singles would soon follow. Can it be so hard to make something chorus-based with a few bouncy synths?

Yet even the singles aren’t so great. “Stop And Stare” and “Demons” are infected with a blandness that makes them fail to stand out from anything else on the radio. The exception is “Lies”, with its delightful wailing over an unfaithful lover accompanying a truly addictive synthline. Unfortunately, this proves to be the high point of the album.

There’s just too much which passes you by. After opening track, “Battlefields”, you might expect a bit of attitude/angst; the band then peaks with “Lies”, but follows up with the painfully uneventful “Golden Sun” and “The Great Unknown”.

The only real joy in the second part of the album comes from “LA Love” with its cool, almost funky ‘80s vibe, even if the vocal performance is oddly reminiscent of Kele from Bloc Party. And there’s another thing; Ross Duffy sounds too much like other indie singers who have dabble in electronic music, such as Ed Macfarlane of the Friendly Fires. It makes it all too easy to contrast such bands with the mediocrity and lyrical weakness of Fenech-Soler.

Perhaps a by-effect of the band’s lack of musical ambition is that most of the album isn't particularly hard to listen to. After all, something so lacking in character can’t offend. But other than “Lies”, it’s hard to find a lot of genuine enjoyment in this uninspiring debut.

4/10   

This album was released on 27 September 2010 by B-Unique, available from Fenech-Soler's website and HMV.