It is probably important to judge the latest Ting Tings album, ‘Sounds from Nowheresville’, while taking into account their previous efforts. Yes, who can have forgotten the intensely annoying indie pop anthem ‘That’s Not My Name’ which seemed to be played on a loop around the whole country in 2008. Three years have passed, and the Ting Tings are back to play the difficult second album game, difficult in that it would be hard to write anything much worse than their debut.
It is easy to state that ‘Sounds from Nowheresville’ is not going to win any awards for clever musical craftsmanship. To be honest it is quite an impressive jump up the musical ladder if we compare it to first album ‘We Started Nothing’, but then that’s not really saying much. Opener, ‘Silence’, is an anticipatory start to the album showcasing the Ting Tings ability to match synth beats with guitar and drums. But from there on in, it all goes downhill. The trio of ‘Hit Me Down Sonny’, ‘Hang It Up’ and ‘Give Me Back’ are impressively inane and forgettable.
‘Guggenheim’ stops you from drowning in a pond of crap songs, as it’s a rip roaring 4 minutes with Katy White alternating a semi spoken word verse with a yelled chorus which actually injects some excitement into the otherwise mundane album. However we quickly return to dull pop music by numbers. ‘Soul Killing’ genuinely wants to make my soul die and ‘Day To Day’ sounds like a not so sassy Jessie J track. Clearly, the Ting Tings know how to write a hook and the way they combine synthesizers with guitars is genuinely quite interesting and exciting. Which is why, its such a shame that seemingly everything they write is exactly the same. The Tings Tings aren’t necessarily bad (although it wouldn’t be hard to argue that), they’re just unable to really push boundaries. Stand out track ’Guggenheim’ demonstrates what they can achieve if they truly go for it but the rest of the album is at best forgettable, and at worst dire.
It is easy to state that ‘Sounds from Nowheresville’ is not going to win any awards for clever musical craftsmanship. To be honest it is quite an impressive jump up the musical ladder if we compare it to first album ‘We Started Nothing’, but then that’s not really saying much. Opener, ‘Silence’, is an anticipatory start to the album showcasing the Ting Tings ability to match synth beats with guitar and drums. But from there on in, it all goes downhill. The trio of ‘Hit Me Down Sonny’, ‘Hang It Up’ and ‘Give Me Back’ are impressively inane and forgettable.
‘Guggenheim’ stops you from drowning in a pond of crap songs, as it’s a rip roaring 4 minutes with Katy White alternating a semi spoken word verse with a yelled chorus which actually injects some excitement into the otherwise mundane album. However we quickly return to dull pop music by numbers. ‘Soul Killing’ genuinely wants to make my soul die and ‘Day To Day’ sounds like a not so sassy Jessie J track. Clearly, the Ting Tings know how to write a hook and the way they combine synthesizers with guitars is genuinely quite interesting and exciting. Which is why, its such a shame that seemingly everything they write is exactly the same. The Tings Tings aren’t necessarily bad (although it wouldn’t be hard to argue that), they’re just unable to really push boundaries. Stand out track ’Guggenheim’ demonstrates what they can achieve if they truly go for it but the rest of the album is at best forgettable, and at worst dire.
4/10
Jessy Parker
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