The next Londoner in line to form many a verse and chorus out of, well, the realities of life (crap jobs, tough love, and how, gosh darnit, things just aren’t the way they used to be) is 24-year-old singer-songwriter Remi Nicole. My Conscience And I follows in the footsteps of the feel-good summer single ‘Go Mr Sunshine’, a decent, if clichéd tune that explored the joys of that non–existent season.
At just over 40 minutes, this debut offers up indie and acoustic pop that perhaps plays it a little too safe. ‘New Old Days’ finds Nicole recalling childhood memories of afternoon TV and cassette players, but the track sounds a little jaded and uninspired. Meanwhile, on the likes of ‘Go With The Flow’ and ‘Tabloid Queen,’ there’s very little variety in terms of musicianship, which remains perhaps too simple and unchallenging.
The singer may insist that she’s all about the ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ on, er, ‘Rock 'N' Roll’ but tracks such as ‘Fed Up,’ ‘Light’s Out’ and ‘Right Side Of Me’ are anything but electrifying. Elsewhere, chunky rhyming schemes, particularly evident on ‘Na Nighty,’ sit awkwardly over backdrops that, by the end of the record, sound completely exhausted – the same feeling this reviewer was left with after endlessly waiting for a moment of magic to pop up.