Finley Quaye - Much More Than Love

On his third record Much More than Much Love, England’s Finley Quaye produces a chilled mix of songs. Ranging from slightly funky, to slightly tribal, to slightly folky, and even slightly reggae and drum n’ bass, Quaye merges genres from all over the map, but only slightly. The problem is that he never really delves into any of the genres deep enough to connect on any real level. Disappointingly, he merely scratches the surface of a lot of them. The songs each have their own flavor but rely on the same radio-ready and polished production that takes away their distinctive flavor. It’s like laying out an eclectic banquet but then insisting on adding loads and loads of ketchup to everything. Everyone likes Italian and Chinese, and everyone likes ketchup, so if we just pile ketchup sky-high on everything, we’ll have ourselves a hit record! Not exactly. But the thing is, a week after listening to this CD, I was playing pool at a bar in Brooklyn, and a song comes on with a great vibe to it. Digging on it, I went over to the DJ to ask who it was. I’ll be damned if he didn’t tell me it was a Finley Quaye song. I think this is just a disc you have to be in the right mood for, just like ketchup and chicken-fried-rice. [www.finleyquaye.com]