aaamusic | On 21, May 2012

Whisper, whisper; tinkly noises; softly, softly strumming the guitar; rustling, rustling sound effects; soft, slow, quiet, repetitive, and so on, and so on, and so forth. This is essentially the order of the day on the rather dull track Come Dine With Me by Esperi – all the different instrumental effects presumably an effort to make the music seem more interesting than it actually is. Strip away all the surface elements, and what you’re left with is an incredibly simple and not unattractive folk-type ballad, which for some peculiar reason includes lyrical references to popular Channel 4 cookery programme Come Dine With Me. Esperi is actually musician Chris Marr, who describes himself as a multi-instrumentalist, although it’s worth pointing out that it isn’t difficult to play multiple instruments if you don’t play any of them especially well. It’s not that there’s anything particularly bad about this song; it’s that there’s nothing particularly impressive about it either.

★★★★★

Rupert Uzzell