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The Maccabees - Colour It In

While 'Colour It In' may be likeably lively, it rarely quite makes it to vital.

Rating: 6

Between their cheekily cheap videos and their singing about the local swimming pool, there's always been something that suggested The Maccabees belonged strictly on nu-britpop's B-list, but at least that's something their debut album works hard to overcome. There's certainly no shortage of Maximo-style multiple-fractures urgency to proceedings, with nary a track even pausing for breath and 'X-Ray' proving brilliantly skittish, and Orlando could never be accused of not bringing enough drama to the party vocally. Moreover, there's a keen degree of wordplay (see titles such as 'O.A.V.I.P.') and much observational vignettery here. Alas, much of it's squandered on mundane settings that prove something of a muchness, and, while 'Colour It In' may be likeably lively, it rarely quite makes it to vital.

Iain Moffat