The Clips

In the process of making extroverted synth pop, Vancouver’s the Clips certainly aren’t shy about letting their Brit rock influences show through their own dance pop sensibilities. Trouble is, their frequent "grooving” outros, derived largely from the baggy sound of the Stone Roses, don’t really groove but plod along unendingly, with pretty but unimaginative keyboard leads to chug along with until the end of the song. And when they slow things down, they get mired in moody Radiohead piano ballad territory, a well-worn path that leads to few encouraging results. Fleeting moments of poppy goodness do occasionally emerge ("Eyesuck”) but this lot aren’t scaling any great new heights regardless of what the album is called.