I'm not keen on writing about music I don't enjoy, so after a couple of listens which have failed to touch me in any way, I decide to devote a lazy Sunday morning to giving this record a 'third' chance.

So, with a full supply of coffee and Jaffa Cakes, I hit the play button, yet nothing's really changed. Sounding like the sort of down home, back water band you'd expect to see playing in the background of an Eighties road movie bar fight, Pale Fire Union is Toronto based singer songwriter Kelvin Wetherell's latest vehicle; and with a helpful supporting cast he delivers a country tinged rock album that's for the most part inoffensive easy listening, but in places overtly commercial, sugar sweetened self indulgence.

Having said that, it's by no means terrible, at least not until fifth track 'The Scratch', which is a thunderously boring stab at reggae which plods along for a full six minutes. The country rock vibe is back with 'Knock Knock', and pumped up a little on the partly catchy title track's riff. 'Ashes to Ashes' begins to try my patience with Wetherell's breathy, sub Cat Stevens vocal becoming too much for me and really threatening my 'off' switch. The album picks up in quality a little over the last four tracks; 'Killing The Thought' gives a tip of the hat towards Zeppelin's 'Levee' masterpiece. Yet ultimately the record falls some way short of inspiration for me: laid back can be cool, yet this all sounds a little contrived and clichéd for my ears: frankly, it's hard work. 

There's no doubting of Wetherell's talent for a minute, yet talent alone is simply not enough. When I listen to music I need to hear inspiration, or personality, or pain, or some sort of feeling of any kind; and this has very little of that; I guess that's why some musicians end up as music teachers or producers, and some as rock stars.

www.palefireunion.com