nfortunately, at this point, Richard Warren will be most remembered for his bass guitar tryout with Oasis (which ultimately went to Ride’s Andy Bell, deservedly). It’s funny too, because when you hear Warren’s own music, it couldn’t be further from the Gallaghers’ rock crusade. There’s no way in hell he’d be satisfied making millions playing in a band that avoids electronic kraut-shaped directions.

His previous two albums, suitably titled Volume Oneand Volume Two, played around with Neu! And Kraftwerk song structures, while leaning further left (field) into a zone of complexity on rare occasions. His lead single, “Kit and Holly” was quite ace, employing a nicely paced motorik beat to great effect. Even better, though, is Giraffe’s first single and lead track, “Automatic Eyes”. A bouncy, off-the-wall, Joy Division-meets-Underworld dance track, the song begins the album with an extremely strong offering...which may have been a mistake. The high hopes that are built in its wake leave the rest of the album attempting to live up to its promise.

From tracks 2-10, Giraffe tiptoes around without attempting another song of “Automatic Eyes” calibre. The tunes sit in musical limbo, like the toys of the Island of Misfit Toys on the Rudolph Christmas special, wondering if anyone will love them the way “Automatic Eyes” has been loved. It’s a shame, too, because Warren has plenty of good ideas floating around.

“Lately Lonely” begins like Ladytron’s “Seventeen” sped up on a turntable. It has those early sounding synths that evoke New Order, sounding more ethereal than God himself. It also has a pretty good step to it. “Good On T.V.” and “Wasted Spaces” also grab some spotlight for both of their four-minute lengths. The former sounds like it’s a firestarter waiting to ignite, yet instead, it kind of flutters around like a bright display of harmless fireworks. Imagine The Faint without all of the scary melodrama. The latter moves around like the last album from The Charlatans. Guitars and vocals disguised as industrial tools, it’s steadied by a very heavy dance beat. Sadly, Warren comes off sounding more like Erasure’s Vince Clarke than he does The Charlies’ Tim Burgess.

You have to give him some credit, Echoboy is definitely heading in the right direction. His last two efforts weren’t as focused, but this time he’s got about half an album’s worth of quality work. If he can keep writing the good singles and try to match or better them nine or ten times for an album, he’ll have a great thing on his hands. We’ll just have to wait and see.