Derided Lancastrian groovers Gomez sadly went from being The Thing That Was Nearly The Next Big Thing in the last years of the 20th century following a couple of outstanding festival appearances, some excellent singles (Whippin' Piccadilly in particular was an indie-disco classic) to nothing at all. Blame The Hip Hop Years - following the screening of that documentary every single band on the planet, from Radiohead to (urgh) Embrace decided that shuffling grooves and looped drumbeats, with twanging guitars, was the sound of The Future and as a result Gomez - who'd been doing it for ages and who were actually pretty good at it - seemed to drop out of existence in the middle of a fug of imitators. Shame.

This, their new album, chugs along contemplatively and with a much more radio-focused sound - Notice could have been culled from the "sensitive moments" bit of a Lostprophets' B-side compilation, a sensitive and angsty lament with plenty of nice guitars and heartfelt delivery - and while nothing really groundbreaking happens in any of the tracks that follow, it's pleasant enough fayre. But do a band who are obviously this talented really need to ape David Grey, Tom Vek, Nick Drake et al when they're capable of much more? In today's record-buying market, yes, but you can almost feel the talent being stifled here. Hamoa Beach is a nice, twangy shuffle, Chasing Ghosts With Alcohol the kind of countrified melancholy that several youngsters from Manchester are bound to churn out when they've been listening to a bit too much Tom Waits, Charley Patton Songs sounds a bit like The Coral.

What's new, guys?

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Released: 5th June 2006
Label: Independiente