aaamusic | On 10, Nov 2010

Cool. Some bands have it, some bands eat, live and breathe it, and some try so hard for it they are quite excruciating to listen to. Unfortunately Foreign Office falls squarely in the latter category. The drums and bass try in vain to strut with Studio 54 insouciance but instead sound so much like a hen night you can smell the WKD and hear the big inflatable cock being blown up. Speaking of which, the singer strives for some David Bowie otherworldliness in his vocals but instead sounds like a particularly smug Dalek. The whole things smacks of wanting to sound like Hercules And Love Affair fronted by Bowie, but without a tune to its name, a singer that sounds so punchable he should just go ahead and rename himself “boxer” (the little “Oh’s” preceding the chorus’ in particular dial up the sliminess to a hitherto unheard of degree) and the whole air of bloated, self congratulatory yuppie pop, this is a record to avoid like a particularly unwashed Buckcherry fan masturbating into a mirror.

Author: Will Howard