Albums

Lana Mir - Lana Mir

Nick Lewis 22/08/2010

Rating: 2/5

My first impressions of Lana Mir were hopeful. She stares out of the cover of this, her eponymously titled debut album, looking uncannily like a 21st century Nico. The press release references her upbringing in Kiev and a passion for Bjork, Portishead, Marianne Faithfull and Joni Mitchell.

If only the sounds that emanated from my speakers reflected any of this. Aside from looks, Mir does share a certain emotionless delivery with Nico, but not in the same blank-eyed-staring-into-the-abyss monotone, merely the sound of a humanoid robot pretending to feel.

The music is not bad, nor is it offensive. It is time-share acoustic: the soundtrack of couples who think they know love.

There are signs of life on 'Summertime', 'I Wanna Be Adored' and the chorus of 'Goodbye Girl' that almost capture the sepia hued '60s haziness Mir is aiming for. But by and large, if vinyl is warm, crackly, full of character and life, and CD is cold, emotionless and efficient; Lana Mir is the archetypal compact disc.

Release date: 23rd August