This album should come with a warning sticker: "This album may be unsuitable for over-18s". I'm only saying this to protect the sensitive. If only someone had done the same for me I wouldn't be the quivering wreck that I am today.

Satellites & Sirens seem to have been specially constructed by a massive corporation like Mattel utilising all the evil powers at their disposition - like focus groups and marketing for example. As a result they've created a monster, a clean-cut hybrid with all the trappings to attract a youth audience. There's pop, there's rock, there's even some occasional trance synth that attempts to pinch fans by crossing over the dangerous and treacherous genre gap that has claimed so many ships in the past. But alas no. Mattel are not to blame. The band have done all this market research on their own. Frontman Geoff Husker used Internet site Craigslist to recruit band members and, after wading through all the chaff he found his wheat. And so Satellites & Sirens were born.

And so to this their debut album. 'Breaking The Noise' is pitch perfect pop. But in a world of imperfection this may not be as good as it sounds. 'Come On' and 'Vaudevillian' are a little too Euro-pop for my liking - perfect for hyperactive kids and cartoon animals, like Tigger, who like to bounce, bounce, bounce.

To quote Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon "I'm too old for this shit". And I use shit metaphorically of course. Cause despite what I feel about this album it is a very good album. Nothing wrong with it at all. Great vocals, great players, great production. It's fun, melodic and chirpy. Unfortunately that's the opposite of everything that I am. And, try as it might, the album fails to uplift this particular dark soul.

For a grown man to listen to this stuff is as suspicious as owning a Judy Garland album. If you ever want to stitch up your mate just buy them a bunch of scented candles, some bath salts, this album and call the police. Or, if you want to play it by the book, then please buy this album for your young sons and daughters. They'll love it. It's like training wheels for later rock appreciation. The new McFly perhaps? Cute and non-threatening.

http://www.satellitesandsirens.com/

http://www.myspace.com/satellitesandsirens