Singles

The Automatic - Recover

Dan Round 31/08/2006

Rating: 2/5

The Automatic were never meant to become a novelty act. After all, Raoul and this track are seriously fun, sharp pop songs. But Monster (sorry for dragging it up in a review for an entirely different song, but it needs doing), this years novelty rock anthem, will almost certainly erase the band's better songs from the memories of scornful music lovers, and that is why listening to this proves an uncomfortable experience. The trademark screaming-behind-keyboards is still there, but that is what serves as the greatest annoyance - the sound is too samey to the band's previous single.

As it is, Recover actually isn't an awful song, but it certainly won't win round the victims of the aggressive, ridiculously catchy and unbelievably over played Monster, and so it will probably sink without really denting the charts. Neither will it go any way in helping boost the band's reputation within indie circles; the musos the band undoubtedly crave to appeal to. The Automatic are well on their way to becoming 2006's version of 1999's very own Gay Dad, or 2003's Darkness.

(released 18/09/2006)