Adventure

Reading the lyric sheet that accompanies Adventure is somewhat like peeking into a teenager's diary. Yep, you guessed it, angst, angst and more angst, with enough overwrought, deliberately oblique lyrics to keep Adrian Mole in novel material long into middle-age.

That said, on occasion they display enough sparkle and fizz to be this year's next big thing. They look good, and vocalist/lyricist Jennifer Turner has enough talent to carry even the more trite lyrics off. Even so, I doubt Alanis Morrisette is pissing herself just yet.

Usually, guitar pop is very much my thang, but the problem with Adventure is that, all too often, there are no hooks strong enough to grab the listener by the scruff and make them pay attention. Either that, or the band just try too hard, and end up sounding tedious. As Turner herself sings on 'Faith': "I try to hold on and I try to rise above, and I try too hard". Perversely, 'Faith' is one of the strongest songs on Adventure, the string section lending the song a more listener-friendly feel.

The sub honky-tonk shuffle of 'Postcard', though, is undoubtedly the standout, with Turner waxing lyrical over a workable musical backdrop, in a song which nods knowingly in the direction of the great Di Franco.

Her themes, too, are worthy, whether she's taking a pot-shot at the sterile pretensions of the art world ('My Friend's Gallery') or her contemporaries quest for material success ('One Hit Downer'), even if the music sometimes lets them down.

Ultimately, though, Adventure lacks the focus and direction to be a really good album, with the whole unquestionably less than the sum of its parts. The pseudo-meaningful lyrics and cascading guitars adding up to a rather stagnant, studied angst which sounds forced, instead of just letting the songs flow. They do show promise, but a vast improvement in quality is needed if Furslide are to be real contenders.