It's always frustrating when an artist with great promise seems to lose energy, or simply run out of ideas. And so it is with the fifth album from Washington trio Gossip.
They rose to prominence with their third album Standing In The Way Of Control, and maintained that prominence withtheir Rick Rubin-produced follow-up Music For Men, but sadly A Joyful Noise is a step backwards.
Front woman Beth Ditto's voice is still strong and powerful, and has plenty of gloss as she belts and croons her way through 11 radio-friendly dance pop tracks, but the attitude seems to have been dialled back, and the fun punchiness of their previous outings is gone.
Having employed pop powerhouse Brian Higgins (who founded Xenomania, responsible for writing hits for Sugababes, Girls Aloud etc) as their producer, the band signalled their ambitions for further world domination.
But it sounds like they got bogged down in the idea of writing a pop hit, and the songs have become laboured and lacking in spark. The production sounds surprisingly dated, all 80s electro, and too clean, uninventive.
Unfortunately the lyrics don't stand up to much scrutiny either, mining old ideas ("poor little rich girl you need to get a job" on Get A Job for example), and throwing around too many vague cliches ("never say never", "one day at a time", and "when the lights go down" all make appearances).
Stars: 3/5 Verdict: Less than joyful effort from dance pop trio.
