Strapped for a new group name? Then why not use your own? That’s what Nikolai Fraiture, bassist with The Strokes, did in creating Nickel Eye. The band actually consists of Fraiture, who handles guitar and vocals, Joel Cadbury, bass and backing vocals, Jamie McDonald, guitar and backing vocals, Tom Phillips, keyboards and Dan Radclyffe on drums. Although well-produced and eminently musical, Fraiture’s voice is not exactly one of the most charming in today’s pop scene and seems to lack depth to the point that maybe he should rely slightly more on harmonising and his backing vocalists. Still, what results is like a cross between late-era punk and Blur of the Brit-pop period.

Interestingly, while the first three tracks, ‘Intro (Every Time)’, ‘You and Everyone Else’ and ‘Back From Exile’ are surprisingly dark and brooding, the next track, ‘Fountain Avenue’, has a folksy quality to it that is undoubtedly aided by the appearance of Nick Zinner (from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Both ‘This Is The End’ and ‘Dying Star’ made me feel like indulging in some post-punk blood-letting, so intense and despairing were its vocals, while ‘Brandy Of The Damned’ could probably put me off fine French liqueur for the rest of my days, despite its repetitive guitar licks and crashing beat. ‘Providence, RI’ and ‘Where The Cold Wind Blows’ are best relegated to the trash-can, as I was starting to feel so depressed by this time that I was glad for the marginally more uplifting ‘Another Sunny Afternoon’, although discovering that this was a reason for Nicholai to take his medication, I almost wanted to join him.

Finally, possessing a heavy Leonard Cohen sound, ‘Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’ delivered a fitting end to a tragically moribund album, which really does not have a place, at a time, when we need sparky, lively music to spice up our lives. Grim.

Iain Robertson