CLIENT CITY ALBUM TOAST HAWAII, MUTE, EMI RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 21, 2004 (USA), SEPTEMBER 27, 2004 (EUROPE) REVIEW: SEPTEMBER 24, 2004

"City" – an interesting album title, depending on how you look at it. On the one hand you have the bleak, harsh skylines and the urban decay; on the other the energy, the eclectic mix of people, the vibrancy of city life. So which does this album fit into – bleak or vibrant?
Given that the two Clients dress in identical uniforms, refer to each other as Client A and B and are heavily influenced by dark good old bands it could be said fun isn’t too heavily on the agenda – but you would be wrong. The emphasis here isn’t on the dreariness of the city – but more on the talented songwriting traditionally coming out of such areas as Manchester. This seems to be coupled on the album with the early electronics from its close neighbour Sheffield, creating a potentially Northern sounding set. In reality the album is accessible to all with its feet firmly placed in the electro-vibe currently still storming through London and elsewhere at the moment.
There are some good songs here – though the lyrics aren’t quite up to Morrissey’s standards yet – after a slow start things warm up from “In It for the Money”, complete with apocalyptic siren intro, dirty keys and a tag line to remember: "‘just give me love, just give me sex, just give me money – work hard? Why should I?" – is obviously the first single, and a potential chart-topper at that. This is followed by "Pornography", another decent track coupling strings and choppy piano with a male-female combined vocal chanting a mantra of "You and Me – Pornography" – very sleazy; very good! The rest of the album from here is agreeable also – especially "The Chill of October" with its excellently mournful strings – another possible single after the new "Radio"? Then I must of course mention "Overdrive", with help from the one and only Mr Gore.
Overall, the album takes time to get going, but it’s worth it once you get there – and there is also the added bonus that these are a potentially amazing live band, having cut there eye teeth supporting Depeche Mode, and regularly out in and around London Djing – so it could be worth looking out for them.

MIKE WHYTE