Make It Better

Dismissed in some quarters as a poor man’s Pet Shop Boys, one-keyboard-trick ponies or Brit-crap also-rans, Dubstar are much more than any of the above.

Sure, sometimes their over-reliance on synths and Sarah Blackwood’s quintessentially British vocal style can sometimes seem jaded, but that is to ignore the best part of Dubstar, the overwhelming humanity of their lyrics. When allied to the tightest and catchiest of melodies, they make for intelligently crafted pop.

Make It Better doesn’t really deviate from the above blueprint, but when you have songs as strong as ‘I (Friday Night)’ or ‘Swansong’ in your armory, why trade them in?

‘The Self Same Thing’ pulsates with pure pop craftsmanship, while ‘Another Word’ and ‘When The World Knows Your Name’ positively glow with bittersweet charm, even if the keyboard flicks on the former hark back to the early 1980s. Funnily enough, ‘Mercury’, the only track not actually written by Dubstar, is probably the best song on offer as Sarah’s vocals take on somewhat interstellar qualities.

However, methinks there’s still a couple of fillers too many: ‘Stay’ and ‘I’m Conscious Of Myself’ are the main offenders, and would have been better held over as b-side material. Those aside, though, Make It Better is an accomplished album which is unlikely to convert the masses to Dubstar’s cause but will undoubtedly reinforce the faith of current believers.