Sing-Sing

Sing-Sing: ‘Sing-Sing And I’

“I am from another land”, announces Lisa O’Neill of Sing-Sing, “not so hard to understand”. Let’s give that some perspective: Lisa’s land is 1995, a place where Blur and Oasis are going at it tooth and nail, any likely lads seen drinking in Camden Town are snagging record deals (and hefty coke fueled advances) and, somehow, skinny indie girls are unlikely sex symbols. Today’s territory finds Blur’s lead singer as a cartoon character, Liam and Noel acting out the parts of human cartoons (to great aplomb, it should be noted) whilst Menswe@r are more Menswhere? and Louise Wener is inexplicably writing novels about poker players. Sadly, Sing-Sing have yet to change with the times.

And so we’re presented with ‘Sing-Sing And I’, one of those second albums you’re legally obliged to describe as “difficult”. Actually, Sing-Sing’s other member Emma Anderson has had a tougher back-story than most - her Britpop band Lush suffered genuine tragedy back in the day when drummer Chris Acland took his own life. Yet while we should admire her ability to pick up the pieces, this cannot detract from the average fare on offer here. Opening track ‘Lover’ sets a worrying precedent as it actually apes Lush’s signature hit ‘Single Girl’. No bad thing had it not originally existed but as it does, you just can’t overlook the familiarity. Even worse, it’s the rule and not the exception: ‘Come, Sing Me A Song’ rips off the opening to Scissor Sisters’ ‘Take Your Mama’ to the extent you’ll swear a musical version of the photocopier has been invented whereas ‘A Modern Girl’ and ‘Going Out Tonight’ are two thirds New Order to one part Electronic. And proceedings hit their lowest ebb during ‘I Do’, which reworks Sandie Shaw’s dire ‘Puppet On A String’: a song deemed worthy enough to be a Eurovision Song Contest entry for Great Britain during the 1960s. Girls – where did it all go wrong?

Sing-Sing aren’t without a total lack of talent. O’Neill’s vocal remains pleasant enough and some of the various electronic musings are diverting. Indeed, the two standout tracks, ‘Ruby’ and ‘Unseen’ are precisely that because they sound fresh, indicative of 2006 (whatever the hell that is) and offer some semblance of hope for the future. Sing-Sing then: not quite the musical equivalent of prison but it’s unlikely you’ll be a captive listener either.

http://www.glidemagazine.com/2/reviews1195.html