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All This Noise Artist: Psalmistry Label: ICC (UK)/N-Soul (US) Length: 14/60.14

Sample Knuckle Head

The path to this sophomore release has been much smoother for Psalmistry than the somewhat convoluted release of Armchair Rebellion. With a new label behind them, Psalmistry have pulled together an album much more focused on the pop sensibility than the harder dance which marked out its
predecessor.

Citing influences such as Fatboy Slim for this poppier approach to dance sounds, Psalmistry haven't quite managed to capture the infectiousness that marks out that artist's releases. Some of the new tracks,
particularly "Knucklehead" with its sampled guitar riff and strong synths, are reminiscent of a slightly harder Echoing Green.

The surprise reference on the press release was to Travis as an influence, and sure enough there's an acoustic track in the form of "Fall Free." It's a pleasant song, centered around a single acoustic guitar and layered male vocals from Edi Johnston, but feels a little out of place midway through the album.

While there are several solid tracks, this new Psalmistry album doesn't live up to the promise of its predecessor. Without that album's hard edge or a solid enough grasp of the big melodies which characterise the direction they were attempting to move into, they haven't quite managed to make the transition fluently.

James Stewart 11/11/2000