Smile...It Confuses People

Sandi Thom is the singer who gigged around with very little success, ended up webcasting to something like 70,000 people and then had a No 1 smash hit. Which is nice to hear, but, by this stage, we should be beyond getting excited and delighted about yet another 'amazing' internet music story? Either the music is good or it isn't, which is the way Thom's debut album should be judged.
Whether you love her breakthrough record, 'I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)', or not, there's no doubting that it stands out in today's musical climate: a simple, virtually acapella number, it certainly has its heart in the right place. What it doesn't do is usher in a brave new musical dawn and neither does the rest of the album. For all her genuine qualities, and the fact that she comes across as a decent and likeable person, underneath all the angle, hype and argument as to whether or not her story is genuine, Thom is really just another singer-songwriter.
She has her moments. 'What If I'm Right' has a sparky feel to it and 'Little Remedy' is fresh and insinuating. But in the end, that omnipresent hit is the stand-out track on what is a pleasant record - but not a challenging one.