TOY – TOY

Poor TOY. For all their reviews so far, not one of them ends without a reference to the bands they so clearly spent their youth listening to. My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and, unfailingly, tour buddies and bezzies The Horrors: turns out it’s impossible to review their debut album without mentioning all three. But nowhere has the most dreaded of descriptions – a little bit boring – cropped up yet.

At some points the chugging motorik rhythm which propels the whole album breaks and there’s a melodic respite – the soaring synths of The Reasons Why and My Heart Skips A Beat are points to look forward to, as is the uplifting repetition of two-chord slow-builder Dead and Gone – but none quite match the poppy, adrenalised white noise of first single Left Myself Behind, which sadly doesn’t feature here. And when the album’s over, it is just that; dead and gone, leaving not a great deal to cling on to. We expected so much more.