Mandalay
Not Seventeen (V2)
However you dress it up, sterility is not a virtue. Here, singer Nicola
Hitchcock might have the ethereal warble of a vacuum-packed Liz Fraser,
but it's hard to believe she's alive, let alone pining for a lost love, as the
wisps of lyrics would have us believe. This is come-down trance at its most
inoffensive, with a barely perceptible beat and the drone of a mournful piano
just about keeping it together. Apparently, Mandalay have spent a busy
summer playing seafront cafes in Ibiza and are a 'favourite' at the
island's, er, meaningful chill-out events. Obviously, they have an uncanny knack
at sending even the most hyperactive clubber to sleep.
Siobhan Grogan
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