The feeling of all-consuming nausea that accompanies this album is evident from the offset. Not so much because of the album, but your own reactions - be it grinning sheepishly at the uber profound lyrics ("bu bu bu bu bu Babay - I think I'm going c c c crazay" / "I'm strong, but I feel like a mouse when you're gone"/ "I'll get some sugar for your bowl, some lemon for your soul") or finding your shoulders swaying of their own accord. It's all enough to unleash an almighty vomit fest of self loathing in order to purge yourself of this feeling. . . that you enjoy The Feeling. One can imagine the rush to unleash the London five piece's debut album for the onset of summer; if this had been released at Christmas, those of you who aren't advocators of raging soft rock would surely bounce it off the head of the auntie who came wielding it as a present. But, because it's sunny right now, we're more forgiving. Given the extremity of MOR rock prevalent on this album, there's a death roll undercurrent of 'novelty act'. That they are the highly produced, harmonising, nattily-dressed pop purveying cousin of The Darkness (you won't need any examples other than the hilarious 'I Love it When You Call', the unprompted guitar solo in the aptly titled 'Same Old Stuff' and the frankly frightening solo featured at the end of 'Helicopter'), in which case, they hopefully don't take themselves too seriously. Let's face it, any band that managed to devise the lyric "You stop the blood and make my head soft" must have something rammed firmly into their cheek. Otherwise I fear for them and their future; because if the second album is of the same ilk, people (with the exception of yer ma) might tire and move on. In the interim - if you enjoy the feeling of guilty pleasures, the feeling of cheese dripping into your ears, or the feeling that you're at times listening to Supertramp - throw it on while you're pottering about the garden in the sunshine. Not too loudly mind, you've a reputation to uphold.
