Razorlight

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Razorlight

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Razorlight pulls off a nifty trick here. Their eponymous CD is heavily and near heavenly saturated by 80's bands. The catchy and confident hooks will remind some of us older skinny-tie geeks of Squeeze, Crowded House and - when the band rocks a little - INXS. But songs like "In The Morning" and "America" are confident pieces of popcraft that sink their hooks in firmly after repeated listening.

Problem is, while it makes for some catchy listening, it is also derivative. "Hold On" sounds so much like a Squeeze song that I was wondering if Difford and Tilbrook had written it. Getting compared to great songwriters is not necessarily a bad thing, but Razorlight The Band doesn't exude much by way of personality here.

The exceptions are "America," which is the best thing on the CD, the nearly folkish "Kirby's House" and the dramatic "Los Angeles Waltz," which closes the album on a very strong note (and namechecks Kings of Leon!). More songs like these would move Razorlight into the realms of great songcraft. But for now, the pleasing popcraft of "Razorlight" follows the likes of Dirty Pretty Things and Muse for strong new British bands.