Soundcinema

Fitting somewhere in the loosely defined parameters of trip-hop, the debut disc by this Montreal-based duo (Harriet Hume and Sue Ward) frames soft hip-hop beats with smooth samples, subtle tech effects and world-weary lyrics. The self-produced sound is hardly new, its synthetic organica lounging between an ambient crawl and nearly danceable pop, but the Soundcinema have drawn an awful lot from clearly limited resources. Next time out a production budget and a sharper focus in the songwriting department will do wonders for this already accomplished pair.