It isn't very often that an album of such high production values lands on my lap for a review and even before I have realy considered the quality of the songs on offer, it has to be said this band are clearly very serious about their prospects because this album sounds fantastic. Now the music....

...well according to Magazine Gaps biography these guys have already performed 2 tours of America, taking in all the major cities, and upon hearing this promotional copy of their debut album I would suggest that the good old USA might be their best bet for success. It can't be escaped that these guys sound very similar to James Blunt, at least in vocal delivery, but that shouldn't detract from their song-writing ability or multi-layered structures that have clearly had a lot of time and effort put into them. The reason I suggest that the US might be a more obvious market for this style of eclectic indie is that I generally feel they are more receptive this style of rock.

There are some obvious highlights on the album though and one of my personal favorites is the epic 'Swansong' that somehow manages to combine the James Blunt esq style vocal sound with that of Tracy Chapman to produce a stunning world class ballad - a really beautiful song. Another highlight is the softly sung 'Slipstream' with its understated melodies and arrangements that bring to mind the classic Extreme track 'More Than Words'. What is clear that Magazine Gap are at their best when they keep things simple and let the songs do the talking.

At times this album does wander off into dangerous coffee table background music because the band seem to want to overplay everything but overall its a record brimming with quality muscianship throughout and will certainly find its way onto many indie-pop lovers stereos - and could even be suggested to fill the void thats been left by the demise of Simply Red.