Singles

Manna - Truth Song

Richard Wink 25/01/2010

Rating: 1/5

'Truth Song' sounds like it squirted from the bowels of Karen O after a heavy session of colonic irrigation, imagine a Yeah Yeah Yeahs track with all edges removed. The very essence, the free spirit, the arty yelp, the passion, the emotion, the soul - all of this completely extinguished.

Manna strangely enough is a perfectly pliable singer songwriter, packaged to crossover, putting together a mish mash of styles and influences; only without that canny ability to mould some brilliance from a wide selection of glamorous junk.

The song opens a bit like a filtered version of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's 'Two Tribes' (hey, that's what I'm hearing) with Manna's O like vocals springing forth. But it never gets going - there is no hook, something appears to be missing. Three minutes fly by, and you can't recall much. You play it again, and again, yet nothing sticks.

If you cross the genre divide then you need to either produce groundbreaking, sonically challenging music, or at least display some song writing nous. Manna needs to work out who she is and then come back with something meaningful, or alternatively some throwaway pop brilliance.