Formed by singer Marijne van der Vlugt, formerly singer with Britpop also-rans Salad, and arranger Mike Mason, once of 4AD signings Swallow, Cowboy Racer have their roots based in the early nineties and it seems, from the evidence of this demo, that that’s where their heads are still at.
Lead track `Yellow Horse’ has already been featured on Grey’s Anatomy and it’s the most immediate song here, clanky electro-pop that wears its clinical purity on its sleeve, much in the vein of Client or Glass Candy but there’s a fine line between clinical and sterile and Marijne’s fabulously bored singing style sucks any soul out of the song, leaving something that sounds too much like an old St Etienne cast-off.
`Forever’ finds Marijne coming on all sultry and sexually provocative, while Mike conjures a pocket-orchestra show tune vibe out of the mix, but again, there’s a feeling it’s all coming from a previous decade, in this case, Sneaker Pimps’ exotic trip-pop.
And this formula seems to prevail throughout, the musical arrangements take pleasing twists and turns, from blissed-out electro tweets and shuffling beats to starker, harsher synth-pop crunch and thump, and Marijne’s voice is sweet and solid enough to play the coquettish lead, but the likes of `Love Stationary’ waft by unremarkably and you feel there’s little here that Dubstar didn’t do first time round.