School Of Seven Bells - Ghostory

A band with that most trusted of career trajectory of starting promisingly and managing to get worse on each release, School of Seven Bells have veered from a a vaguely interesting nu-gaze (sorry) proposition that showed hints of heading in a direction that could be termed interesting, to what is basically The Eurythmics produced by Robin Guthrie. Opener 'The Night' is so commercial it might as well wear a red nose. Instant, slightly shoegazey electronic pop with none of the mystery or melody that makes a band like Ladytron intermittently interesting. From there it heads into total blandness although the single 'Lafaye' is a bit of anomaly in that beneath the vacuous production there's a nice tune trying to get out and it sounds great blasting out of my kitchen speakers while on constant rotation on 6 Music. From there on in it's wishy-washy electronic pop that just seems to glide past without ever snagging the ear. It's a shame as she does have a really good voice but rather than using it for experimental modern pop there just seems to be too much attention paid to acres of ballads and third-rate '80s pop.