Stuck on Rubbish Island

UK band The Wonder Stuff has finally come out with their first album in twelve years, Escape from Rubbish Island. However, it’s nothing much to write home about and definitely not worth the wait. Starting with just the tempo of it, every song is written in very commonplace time signatures; mostly 4:4 or 3:4. The instrumentals drone on, the same rhythm, riff, or 3 bar melody being repeated too often with no deviation, and most of the songs are written in the same key. There is no distinction between songs (other than breaks between tracks) and consequently, no reason to not skip through the tracks, searching for something more interesting or different.

The vocals of Rubbish Island have an odd emphasis placed on them. Their levels are more prominent than the instrumentals, though Miles Hunt’s voice is less than wonderful. This is one of those cases where some distortion would help it along; the keys in which the songs are written seem to be too much of a stretch for him. Hunt does not have a very expansive range and therefore his voice sounds strained. The lyrics also lack in substance. When the most profound line in songs like “Another Comic Tragedy” is “I guess that sorry’s not a big enough word”, there is a problem.

Wonder Stuff’s vanilla music has no place in today’s society. It has a hard time finding a niche in an eclectic industry where plain rock is outdated. Though the flavorless rock and roll may appeal to some who don’t like to take chances with their music, those who are used to musicians trying something new probably won’t appreciate it.