Photographs ... Letters

THIS DUO are clearly being groomed for greater things, judging by the amount of pre-publicity and general fuss that has accompanied their lavishly produced debut. Not all that surprising really - their overall inoffensiveness and ability to write and perform catchy, accessible tunes must make them an A...R man's dream. All the better for these ten lushly-adorned, competently executed ballads to find a ready slot on daytime playlists.

For the record, The Swans are Brendan Wade, former frontman with one-time Wexford contenders Cry Before Dawn and Paul Bell who served time with The Lookalikes and the ludicrously bombastic Simple Minds clones, Zerra 1.

As befits their combined backgrounds there's a strong eighties sensibility running through most of these numbers, which are pretty much devoid of any contemporary musical references. You'll hardly have avoided hearing the two Irish top 20 singles, 'If I Only Had Time' and 'Here To Stay', both piano-based, string-laden slow burners with soaring harmonies and vaguely familiar melodies.

Much of the rest of Photographs ... Letters is similarly fabricated, with the odd uileann pipe or tin whistle embellishment. Wade is technically the better singer here, sounding at times like a cross between Joe Dolan and Brendan Keeley, but Bell's rougher hewn, lived-in voice adds some badly needed vocal texture to the harmonies.

The lyrics are for the most part, a parade of singer/songwriter clichés 'Darling You're The Best Thing' being typical: "Every Day so lonely/ In a world that doesn't care/I've waited for you only/ Just hoping you'd be there."

Overly sentimental and mind-numbingly boring at times, this exercise in MOR is rounded off by 'The Dawn Lament', one of those sub-Riverdance, pseudo-mystical Celtic pieces that are de rigeur for success in certain record markets nowadays.

They could be huge, you know. You have been warned!