Review

The press release for Norwegian band Flunk’s fourth album says that notable fans include the producers of The OC, L Word and CSI. If you consider that to be impressive, then you’ll love This Is What You Get. What you actually get is detached, female vocals and chiming bleeps, welded to sweet, ethereal hooks. It all makes for a pretty soulless (or soullessly pretty) experience. Polished to the point of being frictionless, you could hear Flunk soundtracking a moving scene of WASP angst for one of those aforementioned producers. ‘Shoreline’, for example, is pure Blue Lines/‘Protection’ era Massive Attack. Lovely, smooth but uninspiring. However, the record isn’t entirely without its moments. The best tracks – such as spooky lullaby ‘Down’ – ditch shimmering electronica for something a little sweatier. And their cover of ‘Karma Police’ isn’t bad either: a personal and creepy take on the expansive original. Joe Nawaz

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

DOWNLOAD: ‘DOWN’, KARMA POLICE’.
FOR FANS OF: MASSIVE ATTACK, MORCHEEBA, SNEAKER PIMPS.

Posted on: 27th January 2010

---