There are two parts to being an instrumental rock band: first learning your instruments and how to make them sound like the bands you like; next, and the trickier bit, is composing music that twists, vaults and astonishes. These days even Mogwai seem to have forgotten this second part - and sound like a band aping their own work. Unfortunately their fellow Scots in The Site of Future Rome aren't quite ready to take their place. While this debut EP is capable and very well played (and while they do not resort to that cheap trick of post-rock, the accelerating arpeggio), it's a descriptive rather than an emotive music. These three-and-a-half tracks boast pretty handfuls of melody but no hotter feelings; the cello that leads is surprisingly inert, unable to match the dynamics of an electric guitar. These compositions need fewer contemplative evenings: more earthquakes, heartbreaks and new loves. [Sean Michaels]