Rahimā€™s debut album Ideal Lives is proof, if any was needed, that even the best producer canā€™t guarantee a great album. J. Robbins (ex-Jawbox) has produced some of my favourite records, by bands such as Against Me!, Pilot To Gunner, Jets To Brazil, and Texas Is The Reason, but Ideal Lives is never going to make it even to medium rotation in my stereo.

The New York-based three-pieceā€™s songs sound like pop music sent through a prism and refracted into fragments that donā€™t match up with each other. The 11 tracks here consist of jagged, angular melodies set thinly over patient rhythms (the urgent passages of Desire being a rare exception), with vocals that often (but not always) recall the affected, stilted delivery of early Talking Heads, taken one (or two) steps further away from quirky and towards irritating.

The directionless and erratic opener Klangklangklang (the very title of which should be a warning) epitomises the albumā€™s shortcomings: itā€™s over-intellectualised and lacking in emotional connection with the listener. Ideal? Hardly.

Owen Heitmann