Napoleon IIIrd - In Debt To

With modern life pulling you in 47 different ways at once, sometimes you just need a wee helping hand to put you on the right track. You know, commiserate with you when you're down, give you a positive outlook and a few pointers as to where you're going wrong. Wouldn't it be great if there was a blueprint to help you along? The debut album from one-man band James Mabbett aka Napoleon IIIrd is here to offer up one such alternative.

From album opener proper This is My Call to Arms imploring you to not "Live your life through the TV", to ol' Napoleon putting a hand round your neck on The Conformist Takes it All and having a wee word in your shell to the effect of: "Listen to what I say, average is not the best you can do", it's all sterling advice. If none of this is heeded then hopefully justice will be done and Hit Schmooze for Me will be taken on as an anthem for the disaffected 9 to 5 brigade, assuring us that "this is not my life, it's just my day job." Come on, we all live there.

Bringing to mind a scatter-brain Beach Boys for the digital age, and employing everything from acoustic guitar and organ to a triangle, at times it can sound deceptively quirky. The tunes are here by the bucket load and have sufficient charm and popiness to make it entirely hard to remember that they were constructed by just one man. [Garry Thomson]