Albums

My First Tooth - My First Tooth and the Rubies

Miss Fliss 21/04/2009

Rating: 1/5

Two tracks in, it was all going okay, until I read the press release: 'There's no reason this guy couldn't become the next Willy Mason.' Being lead to think about that crooning cretin leaves a bad taste. Up till that point, I'd been thinking along the lines of David Line from Seafood in the band's lighter, folky moments of cool calm. Anyway, pay no mind to the press release. And whilst this is no Bright Eyes, it is all heart and lilting passion in that guise, but unfortunately without the rousing moments. The songs flow, glide, and twinkle with acoustic dominance, and there are pleasant enough ditties dotted throughout the album - they're just all at similar trad pace and pleasantly ignorable. The ambling, wandering, wending of their ways grates somewhat before we're even halfway in. The voice is bog standard man-does-modern-indie-folk and never really strikes any kind of individual resonance.

Change in instrumentation wouldn't go amiss, as we're stuck with acoustic guitar, drums and voice in the firm folk fashion, and there's not much changeable or thrilling about that when you're not being experimental or at least playful. This is all rather coated in seriousness; earnestness. It reminds me of an open mic event I once attended, where every single act was of this drippy, dull, lost-in-the-music-man, Coldplay-lite acoustica and it felt like looking at the same scene out of a bus window for several hours, and only when I played my Clash cover version did the audience jolt into wakefulness and attentiveness, glazed looks blown away.

At six tracks, this mini album is short and bittersweet, and I'm afraid to say not in a pretty or fascinating way. Maybe My First Tooth need to cut their teeth in music before they make their mark.

My First Tooth Myspace

Alcopop Records website