Etched within the frugally lit fissure separating Badly Drawn Boy and Neil Young is the desolate sound of LeCube. Frenchman Julien Barbagallo's '45 tours No.1' meanders fleetingly between sparse country murmurs and slanting basslines, without daring to venture the slopes of its own cavernous domain. The forlorn utterances of blissfully unassuming first track 'Shoot The Nanny' are accosted by the tersely jagged intro of 'Creatures', before slipping abruptly on a fragile rock of fluttering mandarins and despondent guitars. As wholesomely contorted and wistfully breathless as this is, Barbagallo still needs to excavate outwith the monolithic shadows of his idols. [Billy Hamilton]