Big Deal

If the song title "Cool Like Kurt" didn't tip you off that Big Deal are indeed kids of the '90s, their Vaselines boy/girl strum-a-long certainly will. The pairing of London, UK guitar student Alice Costelloe and Joshua Tree, CA guitar teacher Kacey Underwood comes off much less attractive and gripping once you actually listen to their debut, Lights Out, though. The cardigan-sporting duo work exclusively off of eternally sighing vocals and fill-in-the-blank electric guitar, crafting a dozen songs that just sort of pass on by. Lacking the sexual tension or humour that made the aforementioned Vaselines (or even the Dutchess and the Duke) charming, Big Deal settle for mantra-like renderings of choruses, such as "Messing my head, messing my head" ("Chair") and "I know, I know" ("With the World at My Feet"). There's no doubt that there are truly absorbing moments on Lights Out, but after hearing these moments done over and over, the novelty begins to fade.