Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

The second album from East Yorkshire singer/songwriter Mark Tiddy sees the man better known as Backroom Stereo continue where 2016's 'If You're Gonna Fall In Love' left off. Containing a number of fairly relentless up tempo tracks adorned by driving guitars, synth sounds and programmed drums, the album's main theme is boy-meets-girl love with songs like "Something About You" and "Happy Ever After" doing exactly what they say on their respective tins. Whilst the instrumental backing is competent enough, the vocal performance here lacks strength and variety and this, coupled with a tendency not to develop melody lines beyond four or five notes, makes for a somewhat uninteresting listen after a while. In addition, Tiddy's lyrics need a lot of work to move them away from sounding like an awkward sixth form boy trying to woo his first girlfriend and lines like "it makes me cringe to write these words" and "this song sounds like another cliché" should really never see the light of day in any song worth its salt. In "13.05.16", Tiddy goes off topic with a poignant and very personal song about a friend's suicide but the hopeless cynicism of "The Things I Once Cared About", the promotion of going out and getting drunk in "Rest Of Our Lives" and the general lack of any faith-related elements further adds to the substandard nature of this release.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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