Jun 30 2008 5:42 pm,
Five O’Clock Heroes
‘Speak Your Language’
(Glaze Records)
On his travels abroad, The Fly can just about muster “jim apple Stephen” to French folk before reverting back to the customary English voice-raised hand gesturing. Five O’Clock Heroes’ second album ‘Speak Your Language’ itself has something of a monolingual scope, seeming to draw from very similar reference points that render a somewhat two-dimensional musical canvas. Not always a bad thing, mind, particularly when the Fives make such a glorious cocktail of the likes of Police, Dexys and Elvis Costello. This is a band unafraid to stick to a tried and tested formula with committed gusto. However, highlight track ‘Who’ happens to be a duet with supermodel of the moment Agyness Deyn, which seems lost in translation amid the rest of the album’s fare, and makes you wonder whether Five O’Clock Heroes might not have inadvertently launched another’s career at the expense of their own.
Stephen Brolan
