Music is, like football, often a game of two halves. Just when you're about to give up the ghost having borne witness to nothing short of a shambolic performance, put your knee through the telly and set fire to your favourite stripy scarf, there comes a twinkle of hope, a tiny chink of light at end of the (player's) tunnel. And so it is with Breaks Co-Op's second album, The Sound Inside. The Kiwi trio - including Radio 1 DJ and professional motormouth Zane Lowe - haven't released an album since 1997's benchmark electronic collection 'Roofers' - but those expecting more of the same, or at least material that's markedly similar, best look away now. It isn't that the first six tracks on The Sound Inside are terrible, per se; just terribly and wretchedly hackneyed. From the benign Jack Johnson-esque strumming of Wonder to the Sunday-prayer-group-harmonising and trite lyrical content of The Other Side, BCO embarrass themselves continually with these initial effusions. What barely saves them - and I should think many a listener from reaching for the 'off' button - are the occasional leanings to Eastern influences (bongos, sitar), crackly vocal and audio samples (Last Night) and firm nods to Gruff Rhys and Super Furry Animals (The Sound Inside).Undeniably, vocalist Andy Lovegrove has a gorgeous voice; but its soul inclination is unsuited to such saccharine, sub-Crowded House acousto-pop. Mercifully, things do improve hugely from Duets onwards; Question of Freedom is a brilliant trippy instrumental that puts funk, samples, looped drum beats and trumpets to good use; Too Easily is a gorgeous jazzy chill-out number; Twilight has more than a touch of Air about it; and Lovegrove puts his Gruff impression to good use again on Lay Me Down. It's quite obvious that this is where Breaks Co-Op excel - the poised trip-hop and dreamy chillout that's closer to their debut than perhaps they realise themselves. If they'd steered clear of the folky, saccharine pap that spoils The Sound Inside, they would have made a consistent album that perhaps even Lowe himself would have played on Radio 1. Unfortunately, it appears that this particular offering is largely an own-goal; but careers in music are, like football, often a game of two halves. There's hope yet.
