Posted: Saturday 25th October 2008

Reviewed by James Turley

The staccato guitar riffs, the soft/loud verse/chorus formula, the dramatic lyrics delivered in a hook-laden whine with as many last words being drawn out as possible. Welcome to emo-pop. This is music famed for style over substance, pretty faces and floppy fringes instead of striving for musical brilliance. We've heard it all before, so why should You Me at Six's debut release be worthy of recognition, let alone prompt you to part with your well-earned cash for it?

By sticking to the typical formula which has helped others shift so many million copies they play it remarkably safe and, for the most part, it works. If I Were In Your Shoes, Nasty Habits and Save It For the Bedroom have a sprightly spring in their step, and the heavier If You Run is also a good bit of fun. Then they have to go and ruin it all late on by bringing out an acoustic guitar. It's as though they ran out of ideas and decided to insert a track as mind-numbingly dull, overlong and unoriginal as Always Attract just to show that they can do 'sensible' too. Lyrically the album's a pretty bleak prospect, the head-shakingly annoying You've Made Your Bed being among the worst offenders. Woe betide me! The frustrated adolescent's life is over because the girl he wants to get to second base with is wearing too much lipstick! Anyone over the age of 16 who's listening and thinks "oh, he's so honest and unafraid to show his emotions" should immediately re-think their life and/or listen to some AC/DC. And by the way, dears, you're from Weybridge in Surrey for goodness sake. What on earth's compelling you to sing in that soppy American accent? If it's to sound like a 'college douchebag', as one famous cartoon character put it, then congratulations, you're succeeding beyond your wildest 'pretty-yet-shy-girl'-seducing dreams.

Let's be fair though; the influence of Fall Out Boy, Plain White T's and New Found Glory can't be overlooked in this day and age, and it would be wrong to immediately blast You Me at Six for sounding like more American protégés to the easy, queasy emo-pop sound as seen on MTV. There's plenty of wo-oah's and snappy one-liners to keep the fourteen year old Myspace kids moist, and enough of the familiar stuttering guitar hooks for the hardcore kids to class them as a guilty pleasure. It's undeniably based on trying to be as popular as possible: easy to remember, easy to sing along to at shows, but with just about enough distortion through the guitars to merit a place on hardcore punks' guilty pleasures lists. Besides, they're tonnes better than Kids in Glass Houses anyway.

At least this proves that anyone can become pop stars - or rock stars if you want to stretch the term far enough to encompass this album - and as long as you've got the ear for reproducing what's popular on Myspace any kid can make it big. But place it next to Funeral for a Friend's latest release and they haven't got a chance of being seen as respectable when a relatively modern band has already achieved it all and more.

Ultimately, You Me at Six had better watch out; sooner or later this scene will run dry and they'll find themselves back in their parents' house before they can mutter 'Hey gorgeous, I'm in a band y'know?'