Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - Searching For The Hows And Whys (Warner)

That eye-catching name helps of course (and taps into the nostalgia felt by everyone who spent their childhood playing computer games for months on end), and Duckworth's 'one man and his laptop' approach paid great dividends on the festival circuit in 2006.

The debut album, the portentously titled Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager was promising, if a tad insipid at times, and for the follow-up Duckworth has brought Nitin Sawhney on board as producer to flesh out his songs.

It's an inspired move, as Sawheny works wonders here, giving the album a much more varied feel than its predecessor and adding some warmth and personality to Duckworth's sometimes characterless voice.

So it's a subtle, if not immediately noticeable progression for Duckworth, and there's certainly a more commercial sheen here. Strident opener Let The Journey Begin scatters beats underneath a trumpet-led breezy melody that drags you along with its mild euphoria. The single Find The Time is an affecting acoustic folky number, which also becomes the second song in a year to mention the German region of Kreuzberg after Bloc Party's track from A Weekend In The City.

There's certainly a more confident edge to Duckworth, as you'd expect from somebody following up a successful debut. Kate Nash adds her unmistakable vocals to the dark, broody Better Things, an attack on the vacous world of groupies and 'kiss and tell' stories, while the excellent Postcards From Catalunya is probably the album's standout moment, a wistful lament that manages to reference George Orwell and not come across as pretentious.

If there's a fault with Searching For The Hows And Whys, it's in Duckworth's lyrics. A title such as The Children Are (The Consumers) Of The Future is a bad enough title, but a wordy attack on Sex & The City, political apathy and eating disorders just comes across as hectoring ("shareholder profits over children's lives" rails Duckworth at one point, as if it's a concept he's only just discovered).

I Could Build You A Tower suffers similar problems, as Duckworth solemnly informs us that "there's a war going on in the Middle East, and the fallout affects us all" and then goes on to clumsily invoke US high school massacres, global warming and the nuclear threat of North Korea.

Duckworth is better when he's being more subtle, such as on the excellent Window Of Your Mind or the uplifting ode to the underdog Keep Singing Out. The album is probably a bit too long at 14 tracks, and some crafty editing may not have gone amiss.

However, perhaps we shouldn't be too harsh on Duckworth. He's still only 22 after all, and this album, while not perfect, represents a significant development. Maybe not flying just yet, but certainly circling ready for takeoff.

Tweet Comments