Sam Isaac – clearly no relation to Chris – may have received airplay from Huw Stevens, Colin Murray and Rob Da Bank, played countless festivals from V to Latitude and beyond, and had 'Sticker, Star and Tape' named 'Hottest Record in the World' on the Zane Lowe show, but I really can't see that the attention is entirely warranted, and take Lowe's tagging as a further sign that we're inching toward the next ice-age.
'Sticker, Star and Tape' – the track – sounds like Isacc wants to be The Killers circa their debut. Only trouble is, he lacks the panache and can't sing very well. This is further illustrated on 'Fire Fire' when he goes a bit Robert Smith. And perhaps you're starting to see my problem here: it's all a but derivative. Isaac seems to lack any real identity. The songs aren't especially catchy, and have very little to really recommend them. Ultimately, the five tracks on this EP are fine upstanding examples of generic indie with a few extra synths. Do we really need it?
|
The remixes of the lead track by James Yuill and Rod Thomas are quite 80s disco and post-rock / folk disco respectively. Yuill's remix actually has some nice sweeping synth tones and is reminiscent of the classic 80s 12” mix, but the vocals are just way too high in the mix. Thomas' lacks the nice synth tones and left me wishing for a dub version.
|
