The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville

Aww. Poor Ting Tings. From chart domination to laughing stock in such a short time. If they polarised critics between "aren't they annoying?" and "well I might as well listen to 'Shut Up and Let Me Go' since everyone else is" back in 2008, the only real element in their favour was mainstream coverage. In 2012, they stand as a band achieving only #23 in the album chart and #124 with its lead single. Not a great time to be a Ting Ting.

And lo, the critics have attacked: Pitchfork gave the band a typically harsh 1.8, the Guardian a mere 2 stars and even the NME, who're usually quite partial to that whole kind of ironic-pop posing thing, a snooty (but not too snooty, since they were probably paid by their label not to be) 5/10. But is the backlash justified?


Well, opener and single 'Silence' would appear so. Only 3:47 but feeling like 13 minutes, the track's hook is an 80s alt-pop riff that provides a dreary, heavy backdrop for Katie White's frankly bored voice. Hinting at some kind of sensory depravation - "No need to listen to yourself/ or anybody else" - quite aptly it squats, cloaking itself in richer instrumentations and production without any real direction or impact. From there they switch to marchband-pop that dominated their debut We Started Nothing on 'Hit Me Down Sonny', but again the focus seems to have been on sound effects and gimmicks rather than any structure, melody or hook. Other single 'Hang it Up' then sits somewhere between Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and Dizzee Rascal's Fix Up, Look Sharp but without any of their punch. To their credit, White ably carries off her attitude-shtick, barking "live like a hippie if you wanna be a king" as if such a statement makes sense.

Another hopeful riff dominates 'Give it Back', but even its plentiful supply of cowbell can't steer it away from total monotony. It attempts moments of "shit hitting the fan" but that's an unpleasant metaphor and that's why I use it. White then tries her hand at a storytelling angle, using colloquialisms lifted from the dialogue from Grease, on 'Guggenheim', a standard victim-of-cheating parable without any emotion, wit or intrigue. Thus they turn to a reggae-lite 'Soul Killing', a kind of Rizzle Kicks pastiche that benefits from "not involving Rizzle Kicks". White's high-pitched delivery give it a sugary Lily Allen tint, and the tune is relatively chirpy, but again goes nowhere (except for some bed-squeaking and a schoolkid chant in the chorus totally underivative of Pink Floyd).

Electropop gets a brief mention, too, in 'One By One', a limp splash of a tune that really makes you question if the band are even trying any more. White actually sings on 'Day to Day', a soft soppy ballad that's cute enough to briefly wash away all of the bad taste that's built up to it. Ironically the duo's least eventful track, 'Help', is easily the most appealing (although whether or not that's due to a lack of passive aggressive lyrics or daft sound effects remains to be seen), and even with White's nails-on-blackboard "ay-ay-ay-ay" moment it's a pleasant little synth/acoustic crossover. Final track 'In Your Life' rather laughably aims for a dark country twang, but ends up sounding more Aneka than Anna Calvi.

Sure enough, the record is everything that made the Ting Tings stand out 5 years ago, but that's ultimately its downfall. Lyrically, melodically, emotionally and ostensibly their sophomore record just festers in its own vacuousness, lacking all sense of production and raison d'etre, and the end result is just a terrible album.

Rating: 1.5/10

Highlights:  Hang it Up, Help, Soul Killing, Day to Day

Avoid: Guggenheim, Give it Back, Hit Me Down Sonny, One By One


Artwork Watch: I've seen edgier Happy Meal toys.