Monster Music & Movies

Reviews:

Now here's a familiar scenario: the latest in a very long line of piquant but ultimately uninspiring British hopefuls crosses the Atlantic with a folder full of euphoric reviews while the whole of America opens its mouth to yawn. Of course, our country hasn't fully endorsed a British export since the Boston Tea Party; not coincidentally, the British press gave up any pretense of objectivity around the same time. So don't trust too deeply in the free pass our noble kinsmen have given this Manchester quartet; anything less than a perfect review would invalidate the mountain of tissues and jars of lubricant surrendered to Kid A and Elbow's first record.

Musically speaking, the Engineers' self-titled debut suffers from the same ailments that derailed all but the best of the shoegazer bands. A little Talk Talk worship goes a long way on tracks like "Forgiveness" and "Come in Out of the Rain," but there's too much dead space and too little inertia across the board. The 7-plus minute closer "One in Seven" also shows dire signs of studio bloat: as its title suggests, there's one essential, sweeping minute glaringly tacked on at the end. But then again, they're Engineers, not mechanics.