One For the Middle-Aged Ladies

For their seventh studio album, England’s Gomez choose to incorporate an array of instruments to appeal to a large audience. Whatever’s On Your Mind strolls down the path of pop and easy listening.

Much of the album sounds like it could be a soundtrack to a chick flick or something your mother would listen to, but it has its gems if you listen closely. The album’s opener, “Options,” features heavy acoustic guitar and saxophone, and you’ll hear a violin and piano on “Whatever’s On Your Mind.”

“Equalize” sounds interesting enough for the first 15 seconds, but then once the soft ‘ohhhh’s kick in next to the rather rough vocals and choppy beat, it’s hard to determine whether or not this song is trying to be light or hard. It has failed to sound nice being both. “The Place and the People” is a light acoustic tune that could easily be a legitimate song request on Delilah’s radio station.

The lyrics are nothing to write home about. “Song In My Heart,” which already sounds way too much like a Five For Fighting song, just repeats “You’re the song in my heart.” You can expect only slightly better on the other tracks.

While this album is no disaster, it is nothing close to a mind-blowing, breakthrough album. The funky bits splattering throughout the album are to be appreciated, but you have to be okay with listening to low-key, easy-listener songs.