Morcheeba - The Antidote

After the release of Charango in 2002, British trip-hop trio Morcheeba went through a bit of a mid-career crisis. With the band pulling in different directions, Ross and Paul Godfrey put the band on hiatus to pursue respective solo projects The Jukes and Capricorn 2, during which time lead vocalist Skye Edwards left the band. Deciding that a fresh start was in order, the Godfreys ditched the downtempo scene for a sound arguably more akin to rock, with booming orchestral arrangements and some electronic filler courtesy of Rob Mullender. They recruited former Noonday Underground singer Daisy Martey as Skye’s replacement, recorded the whole album live, released it under new label Echo Records, and hey presto! the result was The Antidote. If only the end product was half as interesting as its backstory. As it is, The Antidote suffers from stutter-step melodies whose stop and go herky-jerky just can’t seem to overcome their own inertia. It lurches out of the gate with “Wonders Never Cease,” which, for all its promise of taking its listeners “on a journey / Somewhere far out east,” sounds spectacularly dull. There’s little improvement as the album progresses. The obvious nod to 60’s and 70’s pop is more like a confining exoskeleton than a groovy foundation; the ironic result being that, for all their bluster, these live instruments sound pretty darn staid. In another ironic turn, Martey proves to be one of the album’s brighter spots. More soulful banshee than sultry chanteuse, she lends an edginess and energy to an album that is otherwise just bland. But even she can’t salvage timeworn cliches like “We can laugh until we cry” or pretentious cringers like “Bye bye cabaret / Sci-fi agony,” and without the likes of Kurt Wagner, Biz Markie, or Spikey T to break it up, her voice descends into monotony after a few songs. But hey, if you happen to be a fan of the guest artist format, there’s a silver lining in all these hackneyed misfires. Martey and Morcheeba have already parted ways, and word is that they’ll use an assortment of performers on their next release. Take that however you will, but from the sound of it, I'd say the band's creative quandary is far from resolved. [www.morcheeba.co.uk]