Neon Heights and Zed J

Neon Heights and Zed J take their cues from fellow Glasgow Underground artists the Idjut Boys and Daniel Ibbotson in producing an album's worth of atmospheric house. Their arrangements similarly lean towards up-tempo beats, light soundscapes and spacy effects with the mumble of Zoe Johnston floating over the mix. The feel on tracks like "Are We Thru," "Don't Nobody" and "Blow Me Down" (which features Johnston accompanying on acoustic guitar) is organic and fresh, but the songwriting just isn't there. It's nice to listen to, but there's nothing captivating about it. They do get credit, though, for flipping the script with the Blondie-styled funk-rock groove on "Gotta Hear It Natural" and the attempt to try out some electronic-country on "16," even though in the case of the latter, in particular, it doesn't work so well.