Jeniferever - 'Choose a Bright Morning'

Music should not be a chore to listen to. Unfortunately for Jeniferever, this LP too often falls victim of its own ambition; the sprawling vistas of lush orchestration unfolding to reveal a yawning gap where there should be a solid tune. The production is immaculate throughout; guitars chime and echo, punchy, reverb-steeped drums drive everything forward and the string section swoons and soars in all the right places. Nevertheless, this glorious sheen does little to disguise the fact that Jeniferever are really quite mediocre songwriters. On tracks like From Across The Sea the band do manage to muster some substance and weight, but in too many other places the guitar lines seem to meander interminably, flailing in the dark for a satisfying melody but always settling on merely sounding pretty. The singer's faux-urgent, half-whispered vocals are awfully grating too. [Jay Shukla]