One fact about Statues dominates all others: it's the first Moloko album since their Wicklow-born singer Roisin Murphy split up with musical director Mark Brydon. And it's hard not to wonder what effect that's had on the duo's working relationship, since this is distinctly lacklustre compared to their breakthrough album Things To Make And Do, which spawned the dancefloor anthems 'Sing It Back' and 'The Time Is Now'. Instead of using their emotional trauma in any creative way, Murphy and Brydon appear to have done their best to suppress it - with the result that neither of them sound as if their heart is in the music any more. The dance tracks are curiously formulaic and passionless, Murphy sounds impossibly jaded, and the number of memorable melodies is disappointingly small. Moloko are supposed to make party music - but this is one gathering you'll be tempted to leave early.
