Mystery Jets - Twenty One

Rating:

* * *

Here's a question: How many indie electro rockers with a burning penchant for the 80s  is London harbouring? Every week there seems to be another record from "a much-hyped" band that fails to live up to the so-called hype. They're not bad, they're just nothing special.

Twenty One

- the sophomore album from London outfit Mystery Jets - comes perilously close to being one of those records. As an air raid warning sounds, before the thick, fuzzy bassline of

Hideaway

kicks in, it seems you are destined to listen to yet another hour of listless art school pop.

The bland melody of

Young Love

is obviously intended as a radio hit, but is completely devoid of any hooks or riffs, while

MJ

is a tuneless 80s tribute that tries - and fails - to put a modern spin on old sounds.

It would all add up to a rather dismal excuse for a record were there not some key redeeming features. The melancholic melody of

Flakes

is gloriously irresistible, while the tin can beat and piano of

Umbrellahead

plays as a clever White Stripes tribute.

Joanna Hunkin