Toy

Toy, the debut album from Dubliner, Greg, is a curious, eccentric affair; a mixture of electronica and whispered vocals, surreal lyrics and experimental arrangements. It's music Jim, but not as we know it.

Greg creates rather ominous electronic soundscapes with eerie effects and off-kilter arrangements, and his lyrics sometimes send a shiver up the spine. The scary thing is, I'm not sure whether they're supposed to.

From the hypnotic 'Paper' to the more organic 'Understanding Entertainment', Greg has created an original canvas. It doesn't always work, however, with the latter track suffering from its lack of electronic input.

'Sonny' has a slow, almost orchestral backdrop, with more time changes and mood swings than you could shake a stick at, and the backing vocals of Jack L and Zoe Holohan add to the overall effect. The title track has faint traces of The Divine Comedy: a fairy tale-like fantasy, more akin to the madcap hysteria of Alice In Wonderland than Cinderella, as our hero observes, "In the secret of obsession I could think about the hero/ I could play with our lives, like surviving lunch forever".

In fact, his lyrics throughout seem as if they're present for the sonic quality alone - the meaning doesn't necessarily enter into the equation. Either that, or they're just too bloody obtuse for a simple soul like myself.

The closing 'Grace' is a case in point, a curious mix of low atmospherics and weird vocals, with Zoe Holohan's more conventional vocals acting as a foil to Greg's almost whispered mantra-like lyrics.

The music is what sets Greg apart from other would-be mavericks, though. He has taken the electronic form so beloved of acts like Kraftwerk and brought it into the '90s, without sounding like Daft Punk or Air. The arrangements sound more classical than pop, but strangely, they work in a new and novel way.

Not an album for the faint-hearted, then, but Greg has created a sound and style all his own.