Kubb

When it comes to tales of how they were discovered, it is hard to top that of Kubb’s Harry Collier. Whilst working in a restaurant, he was singing "Happy Birthday” to a diner who just happened to be Faithless leader (and Dido’s sister) Rollo. Impressed, she invited Collier to her studio, and the rest is history The stuff that dreams are made of. Unfortunately, that story is about the most interesting thing about Collier’s band Kubb, who were formed after his initial discovery. Mother can be filed away in that big box of British acts that are very easy to listen to and even sound not too bad initially, but don’t really have any kind of lasting appeal. Bland and far too polished, Mother is the kind of album that gives albums a bad name in that it has the two or three obviously good songs (the singles) and a whole bunch of filler than suggests that there won’t be a follow-up. The lone highlight is Collier’s voice, which is impressive enough that it is easy to see why Rollo was impressed in the first place. But he definitely needs a better vehicle than his own songs to fulfil any untapped potential. Or maybe this is as good as it is going to get.