Orson - Bright Idea (Mercury)

Somewhat bizarrely, Orson have reached (or, rather, are in the process of reaching) these heights without ever even troubling the charts in the native United States - indeed, they don't even have a record deal in their motherland.

Consisting of vocalist Jason Pebworth, guitarists George Astasio and Kevin Roentgen, bassist Johnny Lonely and drummer Christopher Cano, Orson have established themselves as peddlers of enjoyable if unthreatening guitar pop thanks to singles No Tomorrow and Bright Idea. The album is full of infectious hooks and sunny melodies, and is often dizzyingly enthusiastic, yet the prevailing notion is one of chirpy mediocrity: two radio-friendly singles does not a dazzling album make, and the band's lightweightness does not allow them to sufficiently carry a full album.

Bright Idea is filled with the feeling that you've heard the material somewhere before, so commonplace and radio-friendly are the hooks. Happiness, for example, begins like a Rolling Stones number from the Start Me Up era, a dirty groove married to an energetic vocal from Pebworth, teasing into a powerful, almost anthemic chorus, and is an easy album highlight.

Guitarists Astasio and Roentgen have fun throughout, whether it is the choppy guitars of The Okay Song of the buzzsaw attack of Tryin' To Help. Pebworth's vocal is also consistently strong, best exhibited on the frenetic No Tomorrow and The Okay Song, where at first he, oddly enough, sounds like James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers.

Orson's easy mass-market appeal has garnered them comparisons with the likes of Robbie Williams, Scissor Sisters and the Rolling Stones. They lack the outrage and arrogance that makes the Stones a classic band, but several of the riffs of Bright Idea sound like they could easily be Rolling Stones out-takes, such as Happiness or Last Night, which couples a Stones-esque vibe to the guitar riff from Scissor Sisters' Comfortably Numb to create a dance-rock monster, with a breathy chorus, grinding guitars and a seemingly effortless rhythm section.

An even closer comparison is with another powerpop act, but of a different era, The Go-Gos, who crafted albums packed with hooks married to sunny Californian enthusiasm. Orson are their 21st century (male) successors, perhaps.

There are weaker moments, however, such as the forgettable So Ahead Of Me, which fails to make much of an impact at all, and the dreary piano-led ballad Look Around, where the lyrics tread closer to schmaltzy than sincere ("The flames have all died out/The hearts are still beating/The rain is gone, the rain is gone"). If anything, it proves that Orson have the powerpop market cornered and should not foray into slower, more reflective territory. Sometimes, however, the lyrics can let down the groove, as Already Over demonstrates ("You're a psycho bitch from hell").

At ten songs, Bright Idea is a compact pop album, not allowing things to become overwrought. Had the album length been extended, you get the feeling that the band would have run out of ideas. There isn't anything necessarily challenging to Orson, and their willingness to walk down the very middle of the musical road has earned them criticism from some quarters. That said, given their sheer enthusiasm and gusto, coupled with their ruthless deployment of shamelessly radio-friendly hooks, it seems almost churlish to deny Orson their five minutes in pop's spotlight.

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