When The Go! Team released their debut album Thunder, Lightning, Strike in late 2004, they were seen as something of a novelty. An album recorded in founder Ian Parton's parents' kitchen? An indie band who took scraps of song material, sewed them together and branded them with their own very distinctive, ramshackle design? A frontwoman with a personality like Beth Ditto on Prozac? They were like a crossover-enthusiast's dream, and TLS was the entrancing soundtrack. The problem with the Brighton outfit, however, was that their sound - bewitching and ever-so-charming as it was - didn't exactly inspire confidence for progression. Which means that its predecessor three years later, Proof of Youth, is less proof of juvenility and more proof that although Parton and co. do what they do very well, they haven't attempted any musical advancement. The Go! Team's trademark tinny, scratchy racket is flogged without abandon here; but it's not all doom and gloom. Smiles are raised by the joyfully funky Grip Like A Vice, all seedy Superfly riffs, police sirens and bad attitude, as well as the daft, happy-clappy gem Doing It Right, the mean, lean, Chuck D-featuring gangsta-rock Flashlight Fight and the twee Concretes-esque I Never Needed It Now So Much. The detritus, however, is terribly repetitive, and far too samey to be of any interest - there's only so many subtle harmonica solos one album can handle, after all. For all of its bells and whistles, Proof of Youth just proves that although it's satisfactory background music, The Go! Team's novelty is wearing a little thin at this stage.
