Expatriate
In The Midst of This
Dew Process/Universal

Two and a Half Stars

Expatriate, I want to love this record so hard. But I can't. Never meant to hurt ya/ Only wanna love ya. It has brilliant moments, but therein lies the rub: the best Expatriate has to offer has already been heard. 'The Spaces Between', 'Only Wanna Love Ya', and 'Play a Part' were unleashed to great reception, because they are all incredible tracks. But taken together, In the Midst of This grates as formulaic. With references that become too obvious on repeat listens, and lyrics that would make a lovesick schoolboy blush.

Which isn't to say that it's a terrible album - it just is far from great. Expatriate are a band of supremely gifted musicians, and to see them live is to never be disappointed. But the urgency and catharsis of their live show is nowhere near captured here. The vocals are sometimes buried too low in the mix, the jangly guitar intro/thundering beat/dramatically delivered first line formula is tiring after a few listens, and not helped by a limited vocal range. Ben King has all the right moves and he means what he says, but, the list of banned words for 2007 now includes 'stars', 'our love', 'streets' 'oceans' 'alone' and other lines borrowed from the Bono-lite songbook.

When Expatriate sound like noone but themselves instead of a mish mash of the Cure/Depeche Mode/Joy Division/U2 - as they do on the harder edged, electro infused tracks 'Only Wanna Love Ya' and the closer 'Are You Awake?' - you can see where the hype is deserved. But altogether In The Midst of This has come about a year too late in a genre that is staked out by the Killers, Interpol, the Editors and a raft of others difficult to stand out from. It pains me to say it, but this album should have been so much more than the sum of its parts.