Richard Swift - The Atlantic Ocean

If Bob Dylan were to join The Research, perhaps in some alternate universe where musical stature and legend were rendered meaningles; if he were to spend most of his time trying to sing as thinly as a saxophone reed; and if each of their wonderful idiosyncrasies were cancelled out into a flavourless mush, the result might sound a little like this. The saccharine title track might hint at a hi-fi Grandaddy, and several instrumental sections shine with the gloss of Rufus Wainwright, but when Hallelujah, Goodnight! apes the Grange Hill theme tune, even a guest production role from one Mark Ronson on a handful of the album's tracks can't save the album from sub-Ben Folds territory. So many of the tunes bounce with the same disinterested polish, with piano chords so cheery and callow that one questions why Richard Swift hasn't been approached by the Muzak corporation yet. Just too wack to be wacky.