Envy & Other Sins - Highness (A&M)
1/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Not a conventional way of going about acquiring a record deal, appearing on telly, performing for a panel of industry judges and exposing yourself (musically speaking) to the Great British Public. But it's this unsentimental approach that earned hard-nosed careerists Envy & The Other Sins a sweet, sweet contract with A&M, which may explain their attempts to appeal to as broad a demographic range as possible with their debut single.
'Highness' is a schizophrenic mix of the ghoulish psychobilly of fleetingly popular early noughties combo The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, the trenchancy of early Supergrass and a forthright Top 40 gloss. Ali Forbes' everyman Brummie vocal, meanwhile, places 'Highness' squarely in the post-Libertines bracket. A sufficient range of target groups catered for, then, but somewhat predictably it all rings rather hollow.
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