Bright Light Bright Light – Life Is Easy

Rod Thomas has feelings, and he wants you to know about them. Over a backdrop of super-polished disco beats, he implores us earnestly to know how it feels to be lonely. He alludes to elements of love – breakup and aftermath, specifically – without bothering to question them, and sounds bafflingly smug in the process.

Make no mistake, Life Is Easy is a terrible record, amalgamating anaemic electro-pop with the tritest and vaguest of lyrical sentiment (sample offender: “I hope that there is colour in all your days”). The influence of 90s rave is everywhere, ditto the Pet Shop Boys’ technicolour sheen, albeit sans the titanic splendour of either. Instead, Thomas drones on in excruciatingly wet fashion about experiences we’ve heard described a million times before, offering little of note beyond a duet with that old vowel-mangler Elton John. This truly is the sound of an easy life, and yours doesn’t need such transparent nothing. [Will Fitzpatrick]