Miles Kane - Colour of the Trap

This review is written with something of a heavy heart. I've always liked Miles Kane. Charming, cheeky and sharp as a tack in interviews and appearance, he possesses all the requiste attributes to be a bona fide pop star. After fluttering in the shadows of Alex Turner for the best part of five years thanks to his time fronting long-running Arctic Monkeys support band The Rascals and then co-fronting the Scott Walker homaging Last Shadow Puppets - I desperately want to see him enjoy his day in the sun.

Many dismissed his contribution to the Mercury-nominated Puppets album as merely a token gesture, so I was keeping everything crossed this was the likeable scoucer's bid for some acclaim all of his own. And while Colour of the Trap has some lovely moments, it's not the mind-blowing prospect it could have been which would have banished his detractors for good.

'Rearrange' meshes summery Style Council-esque melodies with the sort of psyche-pop Liverpudlian groups have long done so well. Elsewhere, 'My Fantasy' is a delightful slice of blissed out Mod pop and Quicksand oozes 60s soul and La's-tinged dreamy melodies. Clocking in at 12 tracks, it is overly-long, with fillers like 'Happenstance' and 'Telepathy' not really bringing anything of substance to the table.

Kane now needs to keep a tighter rein on the quality control and produce more of the kind of whip-tight retro indie-pop he has hinted he is capable of here.