May 3, 1999

London Kentish Town Forum

Fresh-faced singer [B]Simon Scott[/B] and his bass-wielding foil [B]Russell Barrett[/B] both fought in the shoegazing wars for [a]Slowdive[/a] and [B]Chapterhouse[/B] respectively...

It lasts, as it always does, for just half-an-hour, but it's more than enough. Six songs hidden in 30 minutes of channelled white noise and sullen glares - that's Inner Sleeve's regular quota and has remained so for almost a year now. Time to move on, you might think, but Inner Sleeve like to do things properly. Perfection can't be hurried.

Which is something at least half the Sleeve should know, given that fresh-faced singer Simon Scott and his bass-wielding foil Russell Barrett both fought in the shoegazing wars for Slowdive and Chapterhouse respectively. And no matter how keen they are for us to forget this information, the fact is that their finest song, the droning, soaring ten-minute molten epic 'Smile', is still heavily indebted to the cosmic grindings of old.

It's nastier and louder, of course, and allows Scott and fellow guitarist Paul Fyfe to indulge their synchronised AC/DC rock twitches, but it still towers over any of the new songs, largely on account of its lack of words. Sure, 'Morning Light' and 'Everybody Here' sound fantastic, but Scott's occasionally muffled singing doesn't quite articulate the group's surprisingly shrewd pop vision.

If you've nothing to say, then say nothing. And if it comes to it, instrumentals never hurt anyone.