theaudience - theaudience (elleffe) On paper, theaudience looks an appealing concept - that deliberately wry moniker, those pretentious song titles, that frontwoman whose face could grace a cosmetics commercial. Scratch the surface, however, and a more mediocre picture is revealed.
Brimming with breezy guitar-pop, the songs on the album sounds pleasant but uninspiring. Add to that the voice of icy 19-year-old chanteuse Sophie Ellis-Baxtor - a flat performance that ranges from removed to snarling - and you begin to suspect she also is bored.
Such detachment is all very well for ironic statements, like A Pessimist is Never Disappointed or I Got the Wherewithal, but mismatched it surely is when Ellis-Baxtor strains to restrain herself on boppy songs like Now That You're 18 or I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough). The high point of the album is the band's breakthrough hit, If You Can't Do It When You're Young; When Can You Do It? - Ellis-Baxtor's voice is appropriately sublime and the music is in turn graceful and vibrant. This sole gem underscores the blandness of the other 13 tracks.