Sing-Sing
"The Joy of Sing-Sing"
(Manifesto/Poptones)

Almost a decade after the media stuck a fork in dream-pop, ex-Lush guitarist Emma Anderson and vocalist Lisa O'Neill come together as the lightweight Sing-Sing. Their debut record, finally available stateside, is a surprising platter. Though at times they come across as a less dissonant version of the early Cranes, much of the material is the stuff of dances and trances.

Other than the passing similarity of "Everything" to "Light From a Dead Star," the sound is surprisingly free of comparisons to Lush. This is both good and bad. A fresh slate is always nice to start with, but there are no songs here that leap out of the speakers and lodge themselves in your subconscious like many of Lush's best did. Come to think of it now, most of those stunners were written by Miki. Could it be Emma's curse to be a consistently good, but never great songwriter?

The sounds of experimentation run throughout the album. The techno keyboard runs in the middle of the Lightning Seed-esque "Far Away From Love" and "You Don't Know" are unexpected. The opening of "Far Away From Love" is a dead ringer for some great lost Lightning Seeds song. It is easy to lose one's self in the billowing waves of "Underage;" a dream pop song in spirit, if not in sonic fact. Perhaps this is exactly where Lush would have ended up, had they stayed together.

Those looking for moribund nostalgia from this bunch will have to seek their ghoulish pleasures elsewhere. Sing-Sing is a thoroughly modern outfit well versed in, but not slaves to, the sounds of today.

The distinctive Poptones packaging is as attractive as ever. Alan McGee has gotten a winning formula: a string of great records that are as nice to look at as they are to listen to.

-Chris Fowler