When it comes to gut reaction, there are always going to be albums that come out that you know are either going to make your heart sigh, or make you puke blood for as long as it takes to expel their foul stench from your system. Keep it Together, the latest album from The Doozer, achieved neither reaction.

This is an album I really wanted to like, and hoped it would make me feel the heart sighing thing. I listened to it again and again and again, looking for that special ingredient. But while it doesn’t evoke instant love, neither does it incite the whole blood/vomit experience. Instead it falls into a category some may deem even worse – that of the middle ground, where the main form of reaction is a shoulder shrugging ‘meh’. Why did I want to like it so much? Well, I guess due to enjoying most of Woodsist’s releases, I had expectations – expectations that weren’t meant. Is that The Doozer’s fault? Yes – yes it is.

The problem is that once the album finds a groove, it rarely leaves. At times this can lead to beautiful songs, like the bobbing Fold Up Chair and the horn infused Jobsworth. It’s at these times you can see The Doozer reflecting the positive elements of both Syd Barrett and Son of Euro Child era Euros Childs. Other times though, it drones and whips up a fug in your head, like in the chugging Low Point or Oh Unbelievers!

It’s an album that’s crying out for variation. The song-writing is there – clever and witty, thoughtful and provoking. But rarely is it supported by the music. By the time you get to Display Cabinets there’s a feeling you’ve heard that guitar part several times before – that vocal structure, that underlying piano. I’m determined not to give up on The Doozer though, as there’s enough of a glimmer to make me think better things are yet to come.

-David Standen-