Rod Thomas - Until Something Fits

01 You Get Goodbyes
02 Your Love Is A Tease
03 Same Old Lines
04 Good Coat
05 Until Something Fits
06 Hints Of Him
07 Same Old Lines (James Yuill Remix)
08 Good Coat (Daley's Invincible Remix)

Like all truly bland music, Until Something Fits has a timeless quality. Sticking to safe melodies and clichéd lyrics, against a steady stream of cloying acoustics, nothing is ever too loud, too fast or too weird.

Thomas' lyrics predominantly deal with relationship issues and with the ultimate demise of those relationships. The folky rhythm is mixed up with occasional disco beats (although in reality these are largely confined to Yuill and Smiths' remixes of existing songs) and other 'quirky' touches, including percussion, hand clapping, a loop pedal and a synth to mix things up. The album swings inoffensively between up-tempo pop and slower, graver-sounding ballads.

You'll Get Goodbyes - which sounds a bit like the Coral- is a reasonable beginning, coming close to an 'infectious pop' sound with a cheery clash of organs and guitars (not forgetting the famous triangle) and a livelier and more fluid vocal-style than is generally found on the album.

As things progress, however, Rod appears to exhaust his lyrical content and things quickly become tired.

The first single Good Coat is one of the better moments but seems very reminiscent of New Shoes by Paolo Nutini and grows to sound like another dreary and half-hearted attempt to imitate something else.

Your Love is a Tease and Hints of Him are both just a little bit creepy, as outpourings of 'feelings' inch into face-pressed-up-against-the-window territory.

There is definitely a real market at the moment for vaguely alternative, folk-inspired singer-song writers (just look at the winner of Orange Unsigned) and Thomas' music has been and will continue to be rhapsodised about by many. Although Until Something Fits appeals to a certain taste and audience, there is no denying that Rod Thomas is a musician of above-average ability and that 2009 is likely to be a big year for him...www.inthenews.co.uk