Versebridgechorus?

Listening to Kinobe’s second album is like dipping into a mixed bag of extremely sugary confectionery.

For those of you expecting them to be the Airs apparent to the French chill-out kings, think again. For those predicting a more laid-back Morcheeba, you’re not quite there. And those of you anticipating a dozen variations on single ‘Summer In The Studio’ will be seriously surprised.

Versebridgechorus contains everything from Andy Williams samples to collaborations with acoustic balladeers Ben & Jason, and quite a bit more besides.

You have the acoustic opener, ‘Butterfly’, soaked in strings, silky vocals and sumptious production, which is quickly followed by the horizontal chilled-out instrumental ‘Having A Moment’. Two songs in and it’s already clear that Mark Blackburn and Julius Waters aren’t going for cheap thrills, but are aiming for something more serious and lasting.

‘Secret Garden’ sounds like the product of a chance meeting between Kate Bush and Zero 7, while ‘Slave One’ has enough pent-up sexual tension for a Martin Gore composition,

The closing ‘Unfair Weather’ is superb, like Radiohead with more melody and a time-limit, and yet it takes them an age to find the rhythm of ‘The G# Spot’ – I know size isn’t everything but some bigger beats would have gone a long way towards bringing this overlong tune towards something of a climax.

As a project, Versebridgechorus is ambitious, but at times you get the feeling that Kinobe are stretching in too many directions, with the end result that they have spread themselves far too thin.