Bad Anorak 404: Sun Plus Sea (CD on Snowstorm)

Band: Bad Anorak 404
Label: Snowstorm
Title: Sun Plus Sea

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Band:Bad Anorak 404
Title:Sun Plus Sea
Reviewed By:Tommy Gunnarsson
Date Published:10/10/2002

Label:Snowstorm
Format:CD
Release Year:Label
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So, once again a record label’s press release plays tricks on us. I have mentioned this before in my previous Pennyblackmusic reviews, and I think that it is actually quite a big problem. I can imagine someone coming into a online record shop and just browsing around, looking for something that might catch their interest. Suddenly they read about a band they have never heard of before, and the description (mostly written by the record labels themselves) says that the band sounds like a cross between Belle & Sebastian and the Smiths. "Wow", the shopper thinks, "I have got to have this! These are my two favourite bands! " So, said and done, he buys the CD by this band and a week later he has it in his hand, pops it into the CD-player and the sound comes out of his speakers. But it’s not the sound of either Belle & Sebastian or the Smiths, not by a longshot. Maybe it sounds more like Travis. Or maybe that well-produced bossanova indiepop that Siesta likes. Actually, it could sound like any pop group.

Maybe you are wondering now why I wrote all that? And what has it got to do with the new Bad Anorak 404 debut album? Well, the thing is that Snowstorm, the band's record label, in their press release compares Bad Anorak 404 to Young Marble Giants, and I really can’t see any similarities, apart from the fact that they both have female singers.

According to the very same press release, Bad Anorak 404 really is a one-woman band, with Lil Sangster handling all the singing, most of the guitars and some bass guitar too. The rest of the band on this album consists partly of members of Shack, the band that Michael Head formed after he put the Pale Fountains on hold.

That’s a comparison I would agree with. Bad Anorak 404 sound more like Shack with Tracey Thorn (from Marine Girls and Everything But The Girl) on vocals. Sadly, the songs are fairly poor, and even though Lil has quite a gentle voice that suits the music perfectly, it doesn’t get me going at all. But I suppose fans of The Shack and the Everything But The Girl of the early 90’s (before they discovered remixes) will enjoy this.

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Disappointing debut album from new Liverpudlian group, which despite Young Marble Giants comparisions, has more in common with Shack and Everything but the Girl

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Sun Plus Sea - CD
Disappointing debut album from new Liverpudlian group, which despite Young Marble Giants comparisions, has more in common with Shack and Everything but the Girl

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