Roc - Night Fold Around Me

This is the trouble with PR. You think you're getting 'wow', but instead it's just a bit 'oh'. Describing them as "a close descendant of Bram Stoker, an American yachtswoman, and the grandson of Daphne Du Maurier" immediately piques your interest. Add to that the open letter to the music industry by your former label Setanta branding you "wilfully uncooperative" and you've got an intriguing backdrop. Instead you get a combination of having two dissimilar singers for musically different tracks presenting a conflicting personality for the album. Journey to the Centre of Brixton builds a luxurious sound but it is just too reminiscent of Portishead, Just One Thing borders on boring love ballad standard, and Sink a Bite into Life sounds just a little bit too much like Donna Summer's I Feel love. Too many comparisons, not enough originality. [Alex Burden]