Album Review: Tribes - Wish To Scream

The second album from Camden's Tribes is as British as a shiny pound coin between Jamie Oliver's teeth. And, like that reference, it is significantly more archaic than it is amusing. Driven by Johnny Lloyd's rebel yell (which isn't unlike that of the other Johnny, Mr Borrell of Razorlight), Tribes present 11 tracks that could have been plucked from Britpop 1996-2006. In a compilation of the same name, they would be incognito at the end of CD2.

There are a couple of peaks, namely Dancehall's poppy, catchy chorus and the totemic How The Other Half Live. It's a shallow compliment as these – the two singles released so far – rise above the remainder so dramatically that they cast the shadow over the rest ever blacker. Dogmatic adherence to the Dochertrine of pre-and-post-Pete British indie has done Tribes no favours, and there is wasted talent that screams to be stretched. More rock'n'roll would take them in a more satisfying direction. The pub sing-alongs that pepper this release show the boys are desperate to unleash. We know they can. We wish they would.

If you loved, and (this is important) still love Gene, The Bluetones, Ocean Colour Scene and Shed Seven, then Wish To Scream may well be your cup of Earl Grey. But one man's nostalgia trip is another's trudging anachronism, and there will be enough in the latter camp to keep this release from taking off. Lloyd, on It Never Ends, gifts us “I smell smoke/from an old flame”. Sadly, it's a little bit stale.