Echobelly always looked like an exciting band on paper. Fronted by an articulate Anglo-Asian female singer and a black lesbian guitarist, they were a direct challenge to the laddish Britpop movement - but their records only occasionally matched the rhetoric and they faded from public view. This comeback album is a surprisingly muted affair, built around ambient experimentation and melancholy ballads rather than their old brand of guitar pop. It's a worthy effort but most of the songs sound alarmingly weary and dejected; ultimately there's very little here that really grabs the attention. A shame.
