Smug kitsch

(Morning Star, Saturday 11 June 2005)

ALBUM: Minotaur Shock - Maritime
(4AD)

FOLLOWING his debut in 2001, Swansea's Minotaur Shock - aka David Edwards - hasn't exactly set the world alight.

The buzz which surrounds his releases is ephemeral at best, with the music press speedily forgetting his "greatness."

Even Edwards himself seems to have an attention deficit, leaping from one pet project to another and currently plotting the release of his next Bronze Age Fox issue.

Using the phrase "electronic maverick" in his own publicity seems unwise and, when this pretentious, faux-knowing attitude turns out to be the fuel for his new, queasily nautical album, it's hard not to want to smack him quite hard in the face.

The smug, self-regarding kitschness of it all is hard to take - from opener Muesli, it's clear that Minotaur Shock is all design and no substance - like sitting in Nik Kershaw's dressing room in 1984 with his vox on mute. A pleasing propect, I'm sure that you'll agree.

Six Foolish Fishermen is surely some great lost 1980s daytime television theme, while Somebody Once told Me It Existed But They Never Found It at best defies comparisons and, at worst, calls up the bastard child of Glen Campbell and the Pet Shop Boys.

If anyone stops shuddering long enough to buy this record, their nausea will be their own reward.

Just don't say that you weren't warned.